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From agent to spectator : witnessing the aftermath in ancient Greek epic and tragedy / by Emily Allen-Hornblower.

LIBRA PA4037 .A6117 2016
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Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Allen-Hornblower, Emily.
Series:
Trends in classics. Supplementary volumes ; vol. 30.
Trends in classics--supplementary volumes ; vol. 30
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Homer. Iliad.
Homer.
Homer--Criticism and interpretation.
Epic poetry, Greek--History and criticism.
Epic poetry, Greek.
Greek drama (Tragedy)--History and criticism.
Greek drama (Tragedy).
Agent (Philosophy) in literature.
Spectators in literature.
Witnesses in literature.
Iliad (Homer).
Criticism and interpretation.
Genre:
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Physical Description:
viii, 336 pages ; 24 cm.
Place of Publication:
Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter, 2016.
Summary:
"We tend to associate the act of witnessing with bystanders who have not played an active role in the events that they are watching. The present monograph considers characters from Homer's Iliad and Greek tragedy that are looking on and reacting (in word, deed, or both) to their own actions. It closely examines those scenes in which they are put in the position of a spectator, witnessing the aftermath of their deed(s)"--Provided by publisher.
Contents:
The powerless spectator: Witnessing the limits of the human condition 5
Voicing their vision: Emotional response and character 6
Time, knowledge, and power 8
Narrative in tragedy, tragedy as narrative 11
Perceptions and values 12
Chapter Outline 15
Chapter 1 The Helpless Witness: Achilles, Patroclus, and the Portrayal of Vulnerability in the Mad 18
Methodology 22
Watching through the eyes of philoi 23
Seeing and pitying 25
Helpless spectators, mortal and immortal 29
Zeus's helplessness: Regarding the death of Sarpedon 31
Looking on from the walls of Troy: The death of Hector 36
The Death of Patroclus 44
No witness, no pity? 44
You, Patroclus 46
Calling out to the threatened warrior: The Patrocleia and Patroclus's doom 49
Apostrophes and turning points: danger or death 55
The downfall of Patroclus 64
Negativity and absence 65
Apostrophes and the poetics of helplessness 71
Absence and presence: The Voice of the Helpless Spectator 74
Achilles' delayed vision 81
Mortal Achilles 87
Chapter 2 Spectatorship, Agency, and Alienation in Sophocles' Trachiniae 94
Watching through Deianeira's eyes 98
Pity and Vulnerability 107
From spectator to agent: Playing Aphrodite 117
Watching Deianeira watch Heracles burn 127
The divine agent and spectator: Cypris 140
Watching Deianeira die 145
Watching Heracles die 149
The silence of Heracles 158
Divine agents and spectators 166
Chapter 3 From Murderer to Messenger: Body, Speech, and Justice in Greek Tragedy 171
Part 1 The Murder of Agamemnon: Imagery and vision 177
Clytemnestra'5 moment of truth 177
Part 2 Matricide: Speech and the Body 199
The Death of Clytemnestra in Aeschylus: The Tyranny and the robe 201
Sophocles' Electro: Viewing Clytemnestra's body through other eyes 210
Euripides' Electro: Motherhood destroyed 224
Chapter 4 Neoptolemus Between Agent and Spectator in Sophocles' Philoctetes 247
The healing presence of a witness and interlocutor 255
Pain and its perceiver 261
A blind eye and a deaf ear: The averted gaze and selective hearing of Odysseus 273
Watch yourself, young man 283
The sounds of Neoptolemus's moral awakening 285
How to "act?" 300.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:
9783110439069
3110439069
OCLC:
943710212

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