Research Catalog
The snake-haired muse : James K. Baxter and classical myth / Geoffrey Miles, John Davidson, Paul Millar.
- Title
- The snake-haired muse : James K. Baxter and classical myth / Geoffrey Miles, John Davidson, Paul Millar.
- Author
- Miles, Geoffrey
- Publication
- Wellington, N.Z. : Victoria University Press, 2011.
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1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Request in advance | PR9639.3.B3 Z75 2011 | Off-site |
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Details
- Additional Authors
- Description
- 380 p. : ill.; 21 cm.
- Summary
- "James K. Baxter's use of Greek myth has often been treated as a critical embarrassment, a tedious and anachronistic burden of classical baggage. Geoffrey Miles, John Davidson and Paul Millar argue that it is in fact close to the heart of his poetic vision. Drawing on Baxter's whole career, and mounting the first ever sustained investigation of his vast corpus of unpublished poems, they explore the mythic figures and ambiguous symbols to which he repeatedly returned in his attempts to 'make a pattern out of the chaos of his experience'. Among the figures discussed in detail are the seaborn Venus; Dionysus the liberating and destructive god of alcohol; the alienated voyager Odysseus; Theseus in his political Labyrinth; and the hideous Gorgon who also functions as the poet's dangerous Muse. An alphabetical who's who catalogues the full range of Baxter's classical allusions. Illuminating the complexity, adventurousness, imaginative energy, and unexpected wit of Baxter's dealings with classical mythology, THE SNAKE-HAIRED MUSE sheds a new light on New Zealand's most iconic poet" -- Publisher description.
- Alternative Title
- James K. Baxter and classical myth
- Subject
- Genre/Form
- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
- Note
- "Index of Baxter's works": p. 362-370.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 352-361) and indexes.
- Processing Action (note)
- committed to retain
- Contents
- Baxter's classical baggage -- 'An Indispensable Education': myth in Baxter's childhood and adolescence -- Venus Is rising, or Is she? -- The infernal feminine -- The garden and the labyrinth: Hercules and Theseus -- 'The Myth of Ocean Freedom': Odysseus -- 'Under the Sign': Bacchus/Dionysus -- 'Chaos and the Grave': Baxter's underworlds -- Conclusion.
- ISBN
- 9780864736581 (pbk.)
- 0864736584 (pbk.)
- LCCN
- ^^2011431998
- OCLC
- 729865726
- SCSB-11286411
- Owning Institutions
- Harvard Library