Research Catalog

Title

Myths of the underworld in contemporary culture : the backward gaze / Judith Fletcher.

Author

Fletcher, Judith

Publication

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2019.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 224 pages : illustrations; 22 cm.

Summary

Myths of the Underworld in Contemporary Culture: The Backward Gaze examines a series of twentieth and twenty-first century fictional works that adapt Greco-Roman myths of the catabasis, the heroic journey to the underworld. Covering a range of genres - including novels, comics, and children's culture, by authors such as Elena Ferrante, Salman Rushdie, Neil Gaiman, A. S. Byatt, Toni Morrison, and Anne Patchett - it reveals how an enduring fascination with life after death, and fantasies of accessing the world of the dead while we are still alive, manifest themselves in myriad and varied re-imaginings of the ancient descent myth. The volume begins with a detailed overview of the use of the myth by ancient authors such as Homer, Aristophanes, Vergil, and Ovid, before exploring the ways in which the narrative of a return trip to Hades by Odysseus, Aeneas, Orpheus, and Persephone can be manipulated by contemporary storytellers to fit themes of social marginality and alterity, postmodern rebellion, the position of female authors in the literary canon, and the dislocation endured by refugees, exiles, and diasporic populations. It also argues that citations of classical underworld stories can disrupt and challenge the literary canon by using media--such as comic books, children's culture, or rock music--not conventionally associated with high culture.

Series Statement

Classical presences

Uniform Title

Classical presences.

Subject

• Voyages to the otherworld in literature
• Voyages to the otherworld

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages [205]-218) and index.

Contents

List of figures -- Introduction -- Source texts. The Odyssean Nekyia -- Heracles and Dionysus -- The descent of Aeneas -- Orpheus and Eurydice -- Persephone -- Elements of the underworld narrative -- The ghost of the father: spirits of the postmodern. Finding the way in John Barth's underworld -- The anxiety influence in Neil Gaiman's underworlds -- Engendering the haunted text. Mutations and hauntings: A.S. Byatt's Angels and insects -- Mutations: "Morpho eugenia" -- Hauntings: "The conjugal angel" -- Persephone interrupted: Coraline -- The doll's descent: Searching for Persephone in the novels of Elena Ferrante -- The wanderer's descent: The underworlds of diaspora. Ascending from oblivion in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon -- Amy Bloom's Away: Dreams in Hell -- On the outside looking in: Salman Rushdie's The ground beneath her feet -- The ghost of the father in Ann Patchett's State of wonder -- The catabatic diaspora -- Epilogue -- Bibliography -- Index.

Call Number

JFD 19-4425

ISBN

• 0198767099
• 9780198767091

OCLC

1059553214

Author

Fletcher, Judith, author.

Title

Myths of the underworld in contemporary culture : the backward gaze / Judith Fletcher.

Publisher

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2019.

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Classical presences

Classical presences.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages [205]-218) and index.

Research Call Number

JFD 19-4425