Douglas Cairns and Ruth Scodel
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780748680108
- eISBN:
- 9780748697007
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748680108.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
Narratologies, both ‘classical’ structuralist narratology and the ‘new narratologies’ of the past twenty years, have mostly been built around the novel. At the same time, the history of narrative ...
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Narratologies, both ‘classical’ structuralist narratology and the ‘new narratologies’ of the past twenty years, have mostly been built around the novel. At the same time, the history of narrative methods has become a recognized area of scholarly discussion. While this work is not confined to the history of the novel, the novel tends to be most prominent. Meanwhile, structuralist narratology has been adapted and applied to ancient literary texts. These studies tend to go directly from an individual text to universals, showing that a Greek author uses a technique found in modern literatures, or that the author's combination of techniques is unusual. They do not show how the methods of storytelling develop over time from one author or genre to another, or how Greek narrative is like and unlike other narrative traditions. This volume represents the beginnings of such a project. Several papers look particularly at ways in which early Greek narrative, particularly Homer, differs from earlier and contemporary Near Eastern narratives. Another group looks at typical features of Greek narrative (exemplarity, occasion, favoured structures). Another considers particular genres (historiography, lyric, tragedy). Others examine particular narrative devices through time or consider how Latin authors read and adapt Greek narrative. The volume as a whole shows how much remains to be explored once we study narrative historically; how much comparison can enhance our understanding of Greek; and how much the study of Greek narrative can contribute to narratology more broadly.Less
Narratologies, both ‘classical’ structuralist narratology and the ‘new narratologies’ of the past twenty years, have mostly been built around the novel. At the same time, the history of narrative methods has become a recognized area of scholarly discussion. While this work is not confined to the history of the novel, the novel tends to be most prominent. Meanwhile, structuralist narratology has been adapted and applied to ancient literary texts. These studies tend to go directly from an individual text to universals, showing that a Greek author uses a technique found in modern literatures, or that the author's combination of techniques is unusual. They do not show how the methods of storytelling develop over time from one author or genre to another, or how Greek narrative is like and unlike other narrative traditions. This volume represents the beginnings of such a project. Several papers look particularly at ways in which early Greek narrative, particularly Homer, differs from earlier and contemporary Near Eastern narratives. Another group looks at typical features of Greek narrative (exemplarity, occasion, favoured structures). Another considers particular genres (historiography, lyric, tragedy). Others examine particular narrative devices through time or consider how Latin authors read and adapt Greek narrative. The volume as a whole shows how much remains to be explored once we study narrative historically; how much comparison can enhance our understanding of Greek; and how much the study of Greek narrative can contribute to narratology more broadly.
Douglas Cairns
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780748680108
- eISBN:
- 9780748697007
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748680108.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
Achilles’ remarks on the jars of Zeus at Iliad 24. 525ff) illustrate a characteristic archaic Greek attitude towards the nature and possibility of happiness. This ‘principle of alternation’ recurs in ...
More
Achilles’ remarks on the jars of Zeus at Iliad 24. 525ff) illustrate a characteristic archaic Greek attitude towards the nature and possibility of happiness. This ‘principle of alternation’ recurs in a variety of forms, from individual aphorisms to large-scale narrative patterns, throughout Greek literature. Though the general notion of the mutability of fortune can be readily paralleled in other cultures, the principle of alternation has a particular salience in Greek narrative thanks to its presentation, in exemplary form, in the Greek tradition's most exemplary work. This is a model to which Greek narratives repeatedly and explicitly return. It is a good example of how the encapsulation of traditional norms, with their associated ways of feeling, in a traditional artistic form encourages a symbiotic replication both of the form and of the response that it evokes; it helps define the emotional and ethical repertoire of both artists and audience.Less
Achilles’ remarks on the jars of Zeus at Iliad 24. 525ff) illustrate a characteristic archaic Greek attitude towards the nature and possibility of happiness. This ‘principle of alternation’ recurs in a variety of forms, from individual aphorisms to large-scale narrative patterns, throughout Greek literature. Though the general notion of the mutability of fortune can be readily paralleled in other cultures, the principle of alternation has a particular salience in Greek narrative thanks to its presentation, in exemplary form, in the Greek tradition's most exemplary work. This is a model to which Greek narratives repeatedly and explicitly return. It is a good example of how the encapsulation of traditional norms, with their associated ways of feeling, in a traditional artistic form encourages a symbiotic replication both of the form and of the response that it evokes; it helps define the emotional and ethical repertoire of both artists and audience.
