Screen LibraryMyths of the underworld in contemporary culture : the backward gaze /
"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 child...
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| Main Authors: | |
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| Published: |
Oxford University Press,
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| Publisher Address: | Oxford, UK : |
| Publication Dates: | 2019. |
| Literature type: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Edition: | First edition. |
| Series: |
Classical presences
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| 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 - such0as comic books, children's culture, or rock music - not conventionally associated with high culture"--Publisher's description. |
| Carrier Form: | viii, 224 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages [205]-218) and index. |
| ISBN: |
9780198767091 (hardback) : 0198767099 (hardback) |
| Index Number: | PN56 |
| CLC: | I106 |
| Call Number: | I106/F613 |
| Contents: |
Source Texts. Odyssean Nekyia -- Heracles and Dionysus -- Descent of Aeneas -- Orpheus and Eurydice -- Persephone -- Elements of the underworld narrative -- Ghost of the Father : Spirits of the Postmodern. Finding the way in John Barth's underworld -- Anxiety of 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 -- Doll's descent : Searching for Persephone in the novels of Elena Ferrante -- Wanderer's Descent : The Underworlds of Diaspora. t Ascending from oblivion in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon -- Amy Bloom's Away : dreams of hell -- On the outside looking in : Salman Rushdie's The Ground Beneath Her Feet -- Ghost of the father in Ann Patchett's State of Wonder -- Catabatic diaspora -- |