The Odyssey: Structure, Narration, and Meaning.

Aus der Bibliothek von Prof. Wolfgang Haase, langj�igem Herausgeber der ANRW und des International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT) / From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - sehr guter Zustand / very good condition - Most studies of the Odyssey�s narrative structure have focused on limited patterns in individual books of the epic or in sequences within books. In this groundbreaking work, Bruce Louden uncovers an extended narrative pattern that runs throughout the whole Odyssey. Looking at such elements as characters� names, challenges faced by Odysseus, the structure of the proem (the poem�s first ten lines), and roles assigned to the poem�s female characters, he identifies a large sequence of successive motifs, repeated in full three times in the Odyssey, which provides the underlying skeletal structure for nearly all the poem�s plot. -- Louden�s structural analysis helps explain the existence in the poem of several characters or episodes sometimes dismissed as extraneous or as late additions to or corruptions of the work. Further the extended narrative pattern suggests that the epic has been transmitted to us as a whole rather than, as some critics believe reconstructed from several smaller poems. Its existence also strengthens the possibility that the Odyssey was the product of an oral tradition. Louden contends that through repetition, a single, improvising bard could explore a variety of complex ideas within a poem as long as the Odyssey. -- Though centrally concerned with the form through which the poem presents its rich and complex plot, Louden�s study is not exclusively, or even primarily, formalistic. Based upon his close reading of the epic�s structure, Louden offers new interpretations of the poem, exploring the role of divine hostility in the narrative and locating the Odyssey within a mythic subgenre in which a deity�s anger at the impiety of humanity results in the survival of a single just man out of an entire community. This bold rereading of the Homeric epic�the first attempt in years to map in detail the poem�s overall structure - considerably enriches our understanding of the Odyssey's design and meaning. ISBN 9780801860584