Research Catalog

Title

Homer and the poetics of gesture / Alex C. Purves.

Author

Purves, Alex C., 1972-

Publication

• Oxford ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2019.
• ©2019

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiii, 214 pages; 25 cm.

Summary

Homer and the Poetics of Gesture is the first book of its kind to consider the epic formula in terms that are gestural as well as verbal. Drawing on studies from multiple disciplines, including movement theory, dance studies, phenomenology, and early film, it suggests new approaches for interpreting the relationship between repetition and embodiment in Homer. Through a series of dynamic close readings, Purves argues that the deep-seated habits and gestures of epic bodies are instrumental to our understanding of the Iliad and Odyssey, especially insofar as they attune us to the kinetic structures and sensibilities that shape the meaning of the poems. Each of the chapters isolates a scene in which a specific action, posture, or gesture (falling, running, leaping, standing, and reaching) emerges from the background of its other iterations in order to make larger claims about its poetic significance within the epics as a whole. Beginning from the premise that gestures are shared between characters and often identically repeated within the poems' formulaic system, the book reconsiders long-standing arguments about Homeric agency and character by focusing on those moments when a gesture diverges from its expected course, redirecting the plot or drawing the poem in new and surprising directions. Homer and the Poetics of Gesture not only affords new insights into the nature of epic repetition and poetic originality but also reveals unnoticed connections between Homeric structure and technique and the embodied habits and movements of the characters within the poems. -- !c From publisher's description.

Series Statement

Oxford studies in late antiquity

Uniform Title

Oxford studies in late antiquity.

Subjects

• Homer
• Gesture in literature
• Homer > Criticism and interpretation
• Criticism, interpretation, etc

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Falling -- Running -- Leaping -- Standing -- Reaching.

Call Number

JFE 19-5625

ISBN

• 9780190857929
• 0190857927
• 9780190915469 (updf) (canceled/invalid)
• 9780190915476 (epub) (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

• 2018027945
• 40028846898

OCLC

1041226872

Author

Purves, Alex C., 1972- author.

Title

Homer and the poetics of gesture / Alex C. Purves.

Publisher

Oxford ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2019.

Copyright Date

©2019

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Oxford studies in late antiquity

Oxford studies in late antiquity.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Form:

Online version: Purves, Alex C., 1972- Homer and the poetics of gesture. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2019 9780190915483 (DLC) 2018029132

Other Standard Identifier

40028846898

Research Call Number

JFE 19-5625