Myths of the Underworld in Contemporary Culture: The Backward Gaze by Judith Fletcher

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 191 only haphazardly collected and receive short shrift compared to other kinds of blocks. Palmette antefixes are illustrated with photographs (figs. 222–223, 392–394) but only one is drawn to scale, and their format and decoration have evidently been disregarded in the catalogues as well as in the stylistic and comparative analyses. Terracotta tiles are mentioned but without adequate information (n. 186) to determine their format or relationship to the andrones, such as mention of the possibility that marble elements at the perimeter were combined with terracotta in the interior. The roof is restored with a continuous lateral sima decorated by lion-head waterspouts inserted in front of the lowest marble pan tile, with antefixes “perched” above the sima (fig. 399). No fragment of such a lateral sima is identified, and, although more than thirty spouts would be required for each side of the andrones (i.e., over 120 total), only a single fragmentary lion’s head (figs. 395–396, 399) was found near Andron A. Moreover, the antefixes have a flat base that would have rested directly on an eaves tile, a largely intact example (figs. 398: A-RB 1) of which supplies the matching bedding. As a result, every reconstruction showing the roof with a lateral sima (figs. 229, 234, 231–232, 399, 402, 408, 410 463, 472) is contradicted by the surviving evidence. The raking cavetto sima on the fronts, which is attested, would have met a transitional unit at the corners integrating an acroterion base, perhaps decorated with a dummy lion-head waterspout. Rather than employing a sima at the flanks, the andrones must have had regular pans at the eaves—whose front was blank but perhaps originally painted—with antefixes attached to flat covers seated above them. This essentially Corinthian design is consistent with the Doric entablature of the andrones. Fortunately this is the only significant mistake that I observed in the otherwise careful treatment of the architecture. University of Toronto Philip Sapirstein Myths of the Underworld in Contemporary Culture: The Backward Gaze. By Judith Fletcher. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2019. Pp. 240. Stories of heroic or divine katabaseis, that is, descents to the Underworld, form one of the most ancient and persistent narrative motifs in literature, and with good reason. Such a journey, coupled with achievement of return to the world of the living, has the potential of answering some of the most fundamental questions of human existence regarding our true nature and what happens to us after our physical existence comes to an end. Consequently, the mystifying allure of stealing a glimpse of man’s fate in the afterlife has intrigued audiences through countless adaptations from antiquity to the modern day. Fletcher’s insightful monograph aims to demonstrate that no matter how far we might be in terms of time or culture from the ancient Greek and Roman paradigms, our stories of the Underworld journey tend to return to those very same narratives, bringing them back to the light in what might be called a figurative literary anabasis. The work understandably does not strive for completion, but attempts “to offer a study of the adaptation of underworld mythology” (5) through an in-depth analysis of nine contemporary authors who employ the Underworld journey, highlighting the dependence of new narratives on the archetypical ancient exempla. In Chapter One, “Source Texts,” Fletcher offers a comprehensive discussion of the ancient sources that are used throughout the monograph, but also touches upon the current scholarly debate that surrounds them. The chapter frames the discussion appropri- 192 PHOENIX ately by focusing on those elements of the ancient catabatic narratives that appear to be more persistent, such as the acquisition of knowledge or wisdom (Od. 11; Aen. 6) or the retrieval of something important (the katabaseis of Heracles and Orpheus). By analysing the multifaceted frameworks present in ancient Underworld narratives and the ways in which they interact, Fletcher concludes that Hades can indeed be viewed as an experimental literary space “constructed from intertextual building blocks” (46)—an observation that anticipates the re-discovery of these very same elements in the contemporary works explored in the remainder of the book. Chapter Two, “The Ghost of...