The return of Ulysses : a cultural history of Homer's Odyssey
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The return of Ulysses : a cultural history of Homer's Odyssey
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-279) and index
"First published by I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd in the United Kingdom. First published in the United States in 2008 by the Johns Hopkins University Press"--T.p. verso
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This broadly conceived and enlightening look at how Homer's Odyssey has resonated in the West offers a thematic analysis of the poem's impact on social and political ideas, institutions, and mores from the ancient world through the present day. Proving that the epic poem is timeless, Edith Hall identifies fifteen key themes in the Odyssey and uses them to illustrate the extensive and diverse effect that Homer's work has had on all manner of inquiry, expression, and art. She traces the text's pervasive thread of influence from the tragedies of classical Athens and the burlesque of Aristophanes to its contemporary artistic reinterpretations in literature, theatre, opera, popular music, film, and science fiction. In considering the mark of the Odyssey on the modern global world, Hall looks at how the poem affected colonialism and the frontier mentality in the American West, how it engendered contemporary attitudes toward sex, death, war, philosophy, violence, and race, and the ways in which the Odyssey forms the backbone of modern-day psychology.
Accessibly written and timely, The Return of Ulysses establishes the Odyssey as the founding text of Western Civilization and offers a major contribution to the study of Homer's epic poem, as well as modern insight into its cultural reception and continuing imprint on society.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Part I: Generic Mutations
1. Embarkation
2. Turning Phrases
3. Shape-Shifting
4. Telling Takes
5. Singing Songs
Part II: World and Society
6. Facing Frontiers
7. Colonial Conflict
8. Rites of Man
9. Women's Work
10. Class Consciousness
Part III: Mind and Psyche
11. Brain Power
12. Exile from Ithaca
13. Blood Bath
14. Sex and Sexuality
15. Dialogue with Death
Notes
Bibliography
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"