Approaches to Greek myth / edited by Lowell Edmunds.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Edmunds, Lowell.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mythology, Greek.

Physical Description:

viii, 470 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014.

Summary:

"A handy introduction to some of the more useful methodological approaches to and the previous scholarship on the subject of Greek myths." -- Phoenix Since the first edition of Approaches to Greek Myth was published in 1990, interest in Greek mythology has surged. There was no simple agreement on the subject of "myth" in classical antiquity, and there remains none today. Is myth a narrative or a performance? Can myth be separated from its context? What did myths mean to ancient Greeks and what do they mean today? Here, Lowell Edmunds brings together practitioners of eight of the most important contemporary approaches to the subject. Whether exploring myth from a historical, comparative, or theoretical perspective, each contributor lucidly describes a particular approach, applies it to one or more myths, and reflects on what the approach yields that others do not. Edmunds's new general and chapter-level introductions recontextualize these essays and also touch on recent developments in scholarship in the interpretation of Greek myth. Contributors are Jordi Pàmias, on the reception of Greek myth through history; H. S. Versnel, on the intersections of myth and ritual; Carolina López-Ruiz, on the near Eastern contexts; Joseph Falaky Nagy, on Indo-European structure in Greek myth; William Hansen, on myth and folklore; Claude Calame, on the application of semiotic theory of narrative; Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood, on reading visual sources such as vase paintings; and Robert A. Segal, on psychoanalytic interpretations. "A valuable collection of eight essays . . . Edmunds's book provides a convenient opportunity to grapple with the current methodologies used in the analysis of literature and myth." -- New England Classical Newsletter and Journal

Contents:

The reception of Greek myth / Jordi Pamias

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander: myth and ritual, old and new / H.S. Versnel

Greek and Near Eastern mythologies: a story of Mediterranean encounters / Carolina López-Ruiz

Hierarchy, heroes, and heads: Indo-European structures in Greek myth / Joseph Falaky Nagy

Odysseus and the oar: a comparative approach to a Greek legend / William Hansen

Greek myth, semantics and pragmatics: the poetic creation of Cyrene / Claude Calame

Myths in images: Theseus and Medea as a case study / Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood

Greek myth and psychoanalysis / Robert Segal.

ISBN:

9781421414188

9781421414195

142141418X

1421414198

OCLC:

863044195