Epic Interactions: Perspectives on Homer, Virgil, and the Epic Tradition Presented to Jasper Griffin by Former Pupils

by M. J. Clarke, B. G. F. Currie, R. O. A. M. Lyne

Overview

This collection of essays, written by former pupils, celebrates the career of Jasper Griffin, one of the foremost modern scholars of classical epic. The volume surveys the epic tradition from the eighth century BC to the nineteenth century of our era. Individual chapters focus on: Homer and the oral epic tradition; Homer in his religious context; Herodotus and Homer; Hellenistic epic; Virgil in his literary context; Virgil in his political-cultural context; the Augustan poets and the Aeneid; Statius' Thebaid; Old English and Old Irish epic; Renaissance epic: Tasso and Milton; and the Victorians. The aim of the book is to situate writers of epic in their literary and cultural contexts—an enterprise captured in the term "interaction" in the title. The chapters singly offer insights into some of the foundational poems of the European epic tradition and together take a bold, holistic look at that tradition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199276301
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/09/2006
Pages:	456
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 5.40(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

M. J. Clarke is Lecturer in Classics, The National University of Ireland, Maynooth. B. G. F. Currie is Fellow and Tutor in Greek and Latin Languages and Literature, Oriel College, and Lecturer, Oxford University. The late R. O. A. M. Lyne was formerly Professor of Classical Languages and Literature, University of Oxford, and a Fellow and Tutor of Balliol College, Oxford.

Table of Contents

1. Homer and the Early Epic Tradition, Bruno Currie2. Homer's Religion: Philological Perspectives from Indo-European and Semitic, Simon Pulleyn3. Homer and Herodotus, Christopher Pelling4. Hellenistic Epic and Homeric Form, Gregory Hutchinson5. The Aeneid: Inheritance and Empire, Rebecca Armstrong6. The Epic and Monuments: Interactions between Virgil's Aeneid and the Augustan Building Programme, Stephen Harrison7. Augustan Responses to the Aeneid, Matthew Robinson8. Statius and the Sublimity of Capaneus, Matthew Leigh9. Achilles, Beowulf, and Cu Chulainn: Continuity and Analogy from Homer to the Medieval North, Michael Clarke10. Quantum mutatus ab illo: Moments of Change and Recognition in Tasso and Milton, Emily Wilson11. The Idea of Epic in the Nineteenth Century, Richard Jenkyns12. Epilogue, Bruno Currie

Editorial Reviews

"Jasper Griffin's versatility...is well reflected in this volume of essays."—Daniel H. Garrison, The Classical Review

From the Publisher