Research Catalog

Title

Homer and the poetics of Hades / George Alexander Gazis.

Author

Gazis, George Alexander

Publication

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2018.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xi, 253 pages; 23 cm

Summary

"Homer and the Poetics of Hades offers a new and unique approach to the Iliad and, more particularly, the Odyssey through an exploration of the role and function of the Underworld as a poetic resource permitting an alternative perspective on the epic past. By portraying Hades as a realm where vision is not possible, Homer creates a unique poetic environment in which social constraints and divine prohibitions do not apply, resulting in a narrative which emulates that of the Muses but which at the same time is markedly distinct from it. In Hades experimentation with, and alteration of, important epic forms and values can be pursued with greater freedom, giving rise to a different kind of poetics: the 'poetics of Hades'. In the Iliad, Homer offers us a glimpse of how this alternative poetics works through the visit of Patroclus' shade in Achilles' dream. The recollection offered by the shade reveals an approach to its past in which regret, self-pity, and a lingering memory of intimate and emotional moments displace an objective tone and traditional exposition of heroic values. However, the potential of Hades for providing alternative means of commemorating the past is more fully explored in the 'Nekyia' of Odyssey 11: there, Odysseus' extraordinary ability to see the dead in Hades allows him to meet and interview the shades of heroines and heroes of the epic past, while the absolute confinement of Hades allows the shades to recount their stories from their own personal points of view. The poetic implications are significant, since by visiting Hades and listening to the stories of the shades Odysseus, and Homer with him, gain access to a tradition in which epic values associated with gender roles and even divine law are suspended in favour of a more immediate and personally inflected approach to the epic past. As readers, this alternative poetics offers us more than just a revised framework within which to navigate the Iliad and the Odyssey, inviting as it does a more nuanced understanding of the Greeks' anxieties around mortality and posthumous fame."--

Subjects

• Iliad (Homer)
• Criticism, interpretation, etc
• Hades (Greek deity)
• Odyssey (Homer)
• Homer > Criticism and interpretation
• Homer > Iliad
• Epic poetry, Greek > History and criticism
• Homer > Odyssey

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-237) and index.

Contents

Machine generated contents note: 0.1. Homeric enargeia -- 0.2. Hades as a Poetic Resource -- pt. 1 ILIAD -- 1. Hades in the Iliad -- 1.1. Introduction -- 1.2. Hades as a Destination: The Beginning of the Iliad and the End of the Heroes -- 1.3. Hades and kleos -- 1.4. Hades the Unknown, Hades the Invisible -- 1.5. Underworld Realm -- 1.6. Conclusions -- 2. Dream of Achilles -- 2.1. Dreaming of the Dead -- 2.2. Speaking to the Dead among the Living -- 2.3. Raising the Dead: Nekyomanteia in the Iliad -- 2.4. Waiting for Darkness -- 2.5. Dream Scene -- 2.6. Memories of the Dead -- 2.7. Conclusions -- pt. 2 ODYSSEY -- 3. Odyssey and the P̀oetics of Hades' -- 3.1. Introduction -- 3.2. Limits of Olympian Influence -- 3.3. Darkness and Seclusion: Hades' Place in the Odyssey -- 3.4. Odysseus as Mediator, Odysseus as Storyteller -- 4. Ǹekyia' -- 4.1. Before the Journey: Departure from Circe's Island -- 4.2. Beginning of the Journey: The Outskirts of Hades -- 4.3. At Close Quarters with the Dead: Elpenor -- 4.4. At the Crossroads of Past and Future: The Meetings with Teiresias and Antikleia -- 4.4.1. Teiresias' Prophecy: Unrestrained Truth -- 4.4.2. Meeting with Antikleia -- 4.4.3. Hearing from the Dead about the Living -- 5. C̀atalogue of Heroines': Narrative Unbound -- 5.1. Introduction -- 5.2. Meeting with Tyro -- 5.3. Women with a Voice: The Other Heroines -- 5.3.1. Female Perspectives on the Heroic Past -- 5.3.2. Perspective of the Mother: To Forget or to Remember -- 5.4. Conclusions -- 6. Ìntermezzo' -- 6.1. Introduction -- 6.2. Breaking the Spell -- 7. C̀atalogue of Heroes' -- 7.1. Introduction -- 7.2. Remembering Troy -- The Meeting with Agamemnon -- 7.2.1. Death of Agamemnon: A View from Below -- 7.2.2. Death of Agamemnon: A Heroic Perspective -- 7.2.3. From Hero to P̀owerless Head': The End of the Meeting -- 7.2.4. Conclusions -- 7.3. After Heroism: The Meeting with Achilles -- 7.3.1. Introduction -- 7.3.2. Survival versus kleos: The Odyssey Meets the Iliad -- 7.3.3. Conclusions -- 7.4. Meeting with Ajax -- 7.4.1. When the Dead Remain Silent -- 7.4.2. Story of the Judgement: An Odyssean Perspective -- 7.4.3. Odysseus' Non-Apology -- 7.4.4. Return to Darkness: Ajax's Perspective -- 7.4.5. Conclusions -- 7.5. Epilogue.

Call Number

JFD 18-4597

ISBN

• 9780198787266
• 019878726X

LCCN

2017954799

OCLC

996401869

Author

Gazis, George Alexander, author.

Title

Homer and the poetics of Hades / George Alexander Gazis.

Publisher

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2018.

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-237) and index.

Research Call Number

JFD 18-4597