Research Catalog

Title

The tears of Achilles / by Hélène Monsacré ; translated by Nicholas J. Snead ; with a foreword by Richard P. Martin.

Author

Monsacré, Hélène

Publication

Washington, D.C. : Center for Hellenic Studies, 2017.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Snead, Nicholas J.

Description

xxix, 167 pages; 23 cm.

Summary

Warrior, hero, super-male--Achilles, by the protocols of Western culture, should never cry. And yet Homeric epic if full of his tears and those of his companions at Troy. This path-blazing study by Hélène Monsacré shows how later ideals of stoically inexpressive manhood run contrary to the poetic vision presented in the Iliad and Odyssey. The epic protagonists, as larger-than-life figures who transcend gender categories, are precisely the men most likely to weep. In a rich series of lucid and detailed close readings, pursuing the paradox of the tearful fighter, Monsacré examines all aspects of the interactions between men and women in the Homeric poems. Her illuminating analysis, first published in French three decades ago, remains bold, fresh, and compelling for anyone touched--like Achilles--by a world of grief--back cover.

Series Statement

Hellenic studies ; 75

Uniform Title

• Larmes d'Achille. English
• Hellenic studies 75.

Alternative Title

Larmes d'Achille.

Subject

• Achilles (Mythological character) > In literature
• Homer > Knowledge > Psychology
• Achilles (Mythological character)
• Homer
• Epic poetry, Greek > History and criticism
• Women and literature > Greece
• Suffering in literature
• Emotions in literature
• Sex role in literature
• Heroes in literature
• Crying in literature
• Tears in literature
• Epic poetry, Greek
• Literature
• Psychology
• Women and literature
• Greece

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

The borders of heroism -- Proper relations to Aphrodite: a criterion in the definition of heroic conduct -- Physical evidence of the hero -- Erotic images of war -- The feminine and the warrior -- Femininity in the epic -- Women in the epic -- The specificity of women -- Virile women or heroines? -- Sobs of men, tears of women -- Crying in the heroic space of the Iliad -- Tears in a different world: the Odyssey -- The tears of women -- The language of tears -- The weeping body of Achilles.

ISBN

• 9780674975682
• 0674975685

LCCN

^^2017005164

OCLC

• 971893205
• SCSB-11071136

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library