Singers, Heroes, and Gods in the "Odyssey" / / Charles Segal.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Segal, Charles,
• MitwirkendeR: Nagy, Gregory,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2018]; ©2001
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Series: Myth and Poetics
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (264 p.)

One of the special charms of the Odyssey, according to Charles Segal, is the way it transports readers to fascinating places. Yet despite the appeal of its narrative, the Odyssey is fully understood only when its style, design, and mythical patterns are taken into account as well. Bringing a new richness to interpretation of this epic, Segal looks closely at key forms of social and personal organization which Odysseus encounters in his voyages. Segal also considers such topics as the relationship between bard and audience, the implications of the Odyssey's self-consciousness about its own poetics, and Homer's treatment of the nature of poetry.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- PART ONE: THE MYTHICAL JOURNEY AND THE HERO -- 1. Introduction: The Landscape of Imagination -- 2. The Phaeacians and Odysseus' Return: Part 1, Suspension and Reintegration -- 3. The Phaeacians and Odysseus' Return: Part 2, Death and Renewal -- 4. Transition and Ritual in Odysseus' Return -- 5. Kleos and Its Ironies -- PART TWO: POETICS: SINGERS, LIARS, AND BEGGARS -- 6. Bard and Audience in Homer -- 7. Bard, Hero, Beggar: Poetics and Exchange -- 8. The King and the Swineherd: Rags, Lies, and Poetry -- PART THREE: GODS AND PROPHETS -- 9. Teiresias in the Yukon: On Folktale and Epic -- 10. Divine Justice: Poseidon, Cyclops, and Helios -- References -- Index