Ancient Epic Research Articles

Titanen, Giganten und Riesen im antiken Epos: Eine literaturtheoretische Neuinterpretation by Arnold Bärtschi

196 PHOENIX and reasoning provided in support of her interpretations, many of which readers are likely to find insightful. Brook’s unremitting determination, however, to apply the approach of “ritual poetics” to the study of Sophocles sometimes also leads to results that may be less convincing. Her interpretations occasionally lack differentiation and nuance, perhaps due to an eagerness to spot as many instances of ritual action as possible. As a consequence, she does not always sufficiently distinguish between “real” rituals that are a part of the tragedy’s plot, actions that are not rituals but are referred to or framed as such by some characters, and events that share similarities with rituals but are considered by no one to be rituals (for instance, bloodshed and killing can be a part of murder as well as sacrifice). In addition, in Brook’s analyses, the plots of entire tragedies can appear to be driven by rituals gone wrong, which lead to further rituals that also go wrong, and so forth. This sometimes obfuscates the actual causal dynamics, such as murder leading to revenge and then more revenge; and Ajax did not kill himself because he committed a ritual flaw. Lastly, some readers may remain skeptical about Brook’s extremely anti-closural readings of the final scenes of Sophoclean tragedies, not least because she systematically places more weight on what, as she claims, must be implied or assumed or silently extrapolated (from flawed rituals that happened earlier in the play) than on what the final scene’s text overtly says. This hermeneutic procedure runs the risk of simplifying rather than resolving the interpretive difficulties that Sophoclean endings always pose. These criticisms notwithstanding, Brook’s study is a valuable addition to the secondary literature on Sophocles that should, and no doubt will, find many readers in the community of scholars of Greek tragedy. Lafayette College Markus Dubischar Titanen, Giganten und Riesen im antiken Epos: Eine literaturtheoretische Neuinterpretation. By Arnold BÈ artschi. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter. 2019. Pp. ix, 465. Epic is the giant among ancient literary genres. However, a comprehensive study on giants in ancient epic has been missing so far. Arnold Bärtschi fills this gap with his monograph, which is based on a doctoral thesis defended at the University of Bochum in 2018. The book consists of four chapters: an introduction (“Einleitung,” 1–36), an examination of the hybrid character of giants in antiquity (“Hybridität von Riesenfiguren ,” 37–103), a diachronic study of epic giant figures from Homer to Valerius Flaccus (“Topographische und geopoetische Verortung von Riesenfiguren,” 105–184), and an in-depth discussion of giants in Quintus of Smyrna’s Posthomerica (“Posthomerische Riesenfiguren,” 185–354). Oddly, a conclusion which the author announces in his introduction as his fifth chapter (“ein kurzes Abschlusskapitel 5 fasst die zentralen Ergebnisse der Untersuchung zusammen,” 35) was not included. Five appendices follow (350–390), including an overview of epic “giant passages,” the geographical location of giants in epic poetry, and comparisons and similes involving giants in the Posthomerica. The bibliography is substantial (391–418), as is the index of passages cited (419–465). A general index was, unfortunately, not produced. In the introduction, the scope and the methodological premises of the study are laid down. The main focus of Bärtschi’s enterprise lies in Greek epic (Homer, ps.-Hesiod, BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 197 Apollonius of Rhodes, Quintus of Smyrna), but with Valerius Flaccus it also incorporates Latin epic. Epic poetry from late antiquity was deliberately (and understandably) excluded for reasons of space and scope. It does not, however, become clear why Valerius Flaccus should be the only representative of Latin epic; one would have expected at least some justification for not including Vergil (whose narration of the Hercules-Cacus episode in Aeneid 8 would have been a perfect fit for this book). Methodologically, Bärtschi combines the vast fields of narratology and intertextuality. Regarding the latter, he distinguishes between what he calls “Einzeltextreferenzen” and “Systemreferenzen” (29), that is, allusions to concrete text passages and general references to, or reminiscences of, the literary tradition. Strangely, two further important theoretical concepts remain unmentioned, namely diachronic narratology (which follows logically from pairing narratology with intertextuality) and...

Emily Allen-Hornblower: From Agent to Spectator. Witnessing the Aftermath in Ancient Greek Epic and Tragedy.

Emily Allen-Hornblower: From Agent to Spectator. Witnessing the Aftermath in Ancient Greek Epic and Tragedy.

From the History of Classical Philology: Alexei F. Losev and Bruno Snell

This article delves into the history of classical philology and the relationship between two prominent classical philologists, one Russian and one German: Alexei Losev (1893–1988) and Bruno Snell (1896–1986). The article shows that both scholars worked at the intersection of philosophy, philology, and history of concepts, and both were interested in the history of ideas, terminology, aesthetics, and mythology and in the language of ancient Greek epics. Unlike Snell, who did not speak Russian and was unable to familiarize himself with Losev’s work on the history of ancient thought, Losev relied on Snell’s work from the mid-1920s until the very end of his life, using Snell to defend his own views on various controversial issues (e.g., reconstructing Homer’s archaic notions of the cosmos, debating the meaning of Heraclitus’ term “ethos,” or discussing the usage of the word sēmainō, and so forth). The subject of analysis is Losev’s 1962 review of the Dictionary of the Early Greek Epic (Lexicon des frühgriechischen Epos), edited by B. Snell, as well as the two scholars’ correspondence in 1959–1960.

Study on the Mobility in Status of Women Evolutionary Phases towards Empowerment in India

Women are the embodiment of divine virtue and purity blessed with the sweetness of speech and beauty from the god. There were contradictory dialogues about women where some schools of thought representing them to be ‘equals of men’ and other schools trying to spread hatred and disrespect by projecting women to be weak minded and unworthy of trust. The status of women witnessed a steady shift along with the phases of Indian society since from ancient to modern times. The life of women was highly influenced by the social attitude and practices in light of philosophical ideologies. The ancient epics and literature placed women with the utmost respect and integrity. The sacred position granted to women found a shattered steady decay with the time leading towards disrespect and injustice. Women started to regain the lost status only in the later part of the nineteenth century. The study on the mobility in the status of women is possible only through a detailed review into the integrated evolutionary process of social system and practices. The injustice and deprivation caused due to the shattered status can be compensated only through equity and justice. Equity in status can be attained only through inclusive growth. This paper highlights on the issues connected to the mobility in the status of women along the ancient, medieval and modern era. It describes the efforts on women empowerment for inclusive growth to ensure equity among men and women thereby recapture the status to which women are deprived off.

The portuguese dactylic hexameter: an overview

This paper investigates the practice of Lusophone translators of employing the Portuguese dactylic hexameter, a practice that dates back to the eighteenth century. A key figure was Carlos Alberto Nunes, whose practice in the middle of the twentieth century differs a little from that of his predecessors (such as Nolasco da Cuinha and Júlio de Castilho, among others), as he avoids the substitution of trochees with dactyls and also changes his way of making the caesura. It can be argued that Nunes anticipated the twenty-first century trend of translating ancient epic in vernacular hexameters. His translations influenced Brazilian poetry in the fifties and continue to provide inspiration to contemporary researchers and translators of classical poetry, not only epic, but also elegy and lyric, in Brazil.

The Poetological Principles of the Early-Modern Bible Epic in Historical Contrast (Poetologische Prinzipien des frühneuzeitlichen Bibelepos im historischen Kontrast)

The investigation of the biblical epic is usually focused on the literary reception of the ancient epic. This is expedient. Nevertheless, in this paper additional perspectives on the biblical epic are discussed. It takes into account the early-modern, literary-theoretical reception of the Bible and it compares the reception of the Bible in epic with that in early modern tragedy. In conclusion, it critically discusses the considerations on the biblical epic in Ernst Robert Curtius’ Europäische Literatur und lateinisches Mittelalter (first 1948).

Mary R. Bachvarova, From Hittite to Homer. The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic

Specialiste des cultures de l’Anatolie et du Proche-Orient de l’Âge du Bronze, Mary B. Bachvarova (MBB) presente dans cet ouvrage le fruit de ses recherches sur l’origine anatolienne des epopees homeriques. Sa these, soigneusement illustree et solidement documentee, s’ouvre sur une chronologie de l’Âge du Bronze et une table d’equivalence entre les dieux du Proche-Orient et ceux du monde grec. Cet appareil documentaire est complete par deux cartes et le plan de la capitale hittite: Hattusa (l...

The Training of Virtue and the Role of Adversity in Ancient Greek Epic

The Training of Virtue and the Role of Adversity in Ancient Greek Epic

Reading Samuel as Folklore: 1 Samuel 23.19–24.22 and 26.1-25, a Case Study

Studies of the oral background to the Hebrew Bible have long been preoccupied with the search for an ancient Hebrew epic. But the fact that many stories are written in narrative prose means they resist attempts to make them conform to expectations of poetic and formulaic composition. The present study takes a different point of departure. Adapting Lauri Honko's cognitive and performative theories of ‘mental texts’, it argues for the existence of cycles of oral folk-narratives in ancient Israel. The parallel stories in which David spares the life of Saul in 1 Sam. 23.19–24.22 and 26.1-25 are used as a case study to test the explanatory power of the model.

Gothic Truth and Mimetic Practice: On the Realism of Schiller’s Geisterseher

ABSTRACTThe official reality claim of the eighteenth-century novel established itself in sharp distinction from fantastic modes of narration (ancient epics, medieval romances, religious allegories, etc.). Realist narratives following the laws of probability draw on a fictional ontology of contingency that goes back to the Aristotelian definition of the term as “possible” and “not necessary.” The pluralistic poetics of the early novel, thereby, not only participate in the programatically modern project “of a scientific scrutiny of life” (Watt) but also forms an essential part of the modern belief in the self-determined nature of the human subject. By contrast, Gothic realism gains all its attraction by depicting impossible events and actions as “real” and assumed unrealities as “possible.” Gothic novels develop an alternative ontology of contingency that actualizes the real possibility of non-being. Next to Walpole’s Castle of Otranto, I analyze Schiller’s Ghost Seer. Schiller’s contagious poetics of mimesis transforms calculable contingencies into the imponderability of sheer accidents. Moreover, it is a tale about the mystery of sociality and about the morally justifiable degree of individual freedom. Within a fictional framework of radical indeterminacy and unexpected novelty, Schiller’s tale calls for an ethics of absolute contingency. It does not content itself with taking the possible for real and the real for non-necessary; instead, its narrative environment calls for a radically situational ethics.

From Hittite to Homer: The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic by Mary R. Bachvarova

From Hittite to Homer: The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic by Mary R. Bachvarova

Croatian War Nocturnal by Sebastian Schulman

obsessed with the stories of Oedipus, Rostam , and Sohrab. Thirty years later, Cem returns to Ongoren despite ill omens, to discover his destiny and to meet Enver, the narrator of the novel. The entwined stories of fathers and sons take unexpected turns and proceed like the epics that have long shaped Cem’s life. Pamuk’s readers will no doubt recognize the presence of his past works in this novel. Enver’s voice resonates with the assassin’s voice in Snow, Rostam and Sohrab’s story and the traveling theater company will bring back lines from the same novel; readers may find themselves hearing the cracking skull of a calligrapher in a sixteenth-century Ottoman well (My Name Is Red). Instead of the Venetians and Ottomans of the White Castle, it is Sophocles ’ Oedipus Rex and the Iranian poet Ferdowsi ’s Rostam and Sohrab that are gazing at each other, negotiating deep-seated fears about patriarchy in the East and West. Like Füsun, the red-haired woman, Gülcihan, despite her presence on the Turkish cover of the novel, is no more than a subject of desire. And Cem says his life changes after he reads a book on dreams, a statement that brings to mind the unforgettable opening sentence of The New Life. Despite its familiarity, however, The RedHaired Woman is a haunting and unprecedented novel. Pamuk’s mischievousness and playfulness are at a minimum, perhaps nonexistent. The murders in the book are sketched against a background of ancient epics and stories that create for the reader the illusion of a closed system, where one feels the weight of predestination and trauma in any troubled father-son relationship. Cem, who is a Poe fan in the story, immures himself with these classical stories, making the detective murder story within the novel even more evocative. In his shortest novel to date, Pamuk leaves the reader with questions about his choices in storytelling and his late style. For instance, the changing of the book title from The Well to The Red-Haired Woman means giving up a perfectly Freudian metaphor that captures the subtle threads in the book. This relatively late change in the title seems to coincide with the inclusion of Gülcihan as one of the narrators in the story and Pamuk’s decision to have a woman amid heavily patriarchal voices. This dominant patriarchal tone is reiterated with the presence and inclusion of the Western canon, from Hamlet to Rousseau and Jules Verne. In this way, the red-haired woman exists as a mysterious, iconic figure , represented by a Rossetti painting, reduced to a book dedication, and caught up in an Oedipal net. Iclal Vanwesenbeeck SUNY Fredonia Spomenka Štimec. Croatian War Nocturnal. Trans. Sebastian Schulman. Los Angeles. Phoneme Media. 120 pages. The Balkan Wars spawned literature across genres, in languages from émigré English and German to nascent Serbian, Bosnian, and Croatian. But Spomenka Štimec’s “fictional memoir” occupies a unique position. Defying the outcome of that war—six new nations, each comprising a dialect with an army—its language, Esperanto, from sperare (to hope), also functions as its theme. Each word embodies the aim of Zamenhof, who founded Esperanto in 1887 to transcend national boundaries and unite the world. Esperanto connects the eleven segments of this nocturnal (not a diary, its Latin root, nox / night, opposing dia / day) that capture the dark realities of the time. The typewriter of Štimec’s persona belonged to the Distributed Language Translation Project, a Dutch effort from 1985 to 1990 to enable machine translation using Esperanto as the intermediary language. On it this Esperanto Center employee, her visits to Serbia “a trip to our Croatian great-grandmother,” her annual holidays with Serbian cousins a “circle of harmony,” nightly records her experiences—Zagreb’s air raids, Vukovar’s destruction, Sarajevo’s siege, blossoming nationalism, separation from family, the death or disappearance of Esperanto colleagues. In Štimec’s epigrammatic style, irony both mediates and underscores horror, highlighting the absurd consequences of war (e.g., the hurdles faced when trying to ship a dead soldier’s body to his native France, revealing “the politics of storing the dead,” or the endless steps required to...

Experiencing Hektor: Character in the Iliad by Lynn Kozak. London: Bloomsbury. 2017. Pp. 307.

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 393 Experiencing Hektor: Character in the ILIAD. By Lynn Kozak. London: Bloomsbury . 2017. Pp. 307. Comparisons between the way the Iliad tells its story and cinematic narrative techniques have been made before. Lynn Kozak’s innovative project compares the poem not with cinema, but with the long serial narratives of television that are hugely popular today. It is a project which focuses attention on the capacities of an audience to engage with a long and complex story, and on the role of characterisation in eliciting and maintaining audience allegiance. The parallels drawn between the orally-derived epic and the modern medium in terms of “serial poetics” depend on a hypothetical performance time for the Iliad of anything between fifteen and thirty hours and an unknown number of performance breaks—Kozak works with an average of twenty hours drawn from a recent performance of her own translation in English. It is this balancing of the episodic and the continuous which, according to Kozak, marks out the serial as a generically distinct form, and she spends part of the introduction tracing its genealogy. The discussion revolves around the likely responses of “the audience,” which is projected as a collective, trans-historical entity that recognises, processes, and interprets the clues provided by the narrative. Thus, the probable loyalties and emotional reactions of the Iliad’s audience can be inferred from observing the behaviour of television viewers. In this regard, the premises of the book resonate with the approach to storytelling by cognitive psychology which attempts to explain the effectiveness of popular motifs and plots with reference to the enduring cognitive and affective processes of the human mind. The Introduction with its sub-title “Binge-Watching the Iliad” sets out the crosscultural model of comparison which underpins the discussion that follows. It is lively and engaging and pulls no punches in terms of its commitment to the idea that thinking about serial television can illuminate epic performance. For Kozak, there is no hierarchy of narrative form; the pleasure afforded by immersion in a story-world can come just as easily from an ancient performance of the Iliad as from The Walking Dead or Hannibal. The idea that people become so immersed in a story that several hours pass without the need for respite is surely uncontroversial at a time when, according to the 2018 Deloitte Digital Democracy Survey, Millennial and Generation X consumers are accustomed to viewing about seven episodes of a TV series in a single sitting.1 The question that arises from this section is more about whether the identification of TV and epic as nonliterate narrative forms is enough to underpin a comparison which tends to downplay the dissimilarities between them, such as, for instance, television’s use of visuality and actors, as well as the commercial considerations which determine the length of each episode. On balance, the insights that emerge more than compensate for the lack of attention paid to contextual differences and, in particular, Kozak’s account of the ways in which an audience learns to recognise individual characters when encountering them in the first episode of a multi-peopled serial like HBO’s Game of Thrones significantly illuminates what it might have been like for an audience to deal with the opening of an ancient epic in medias res. In the conceptual framework he creates to describe this activity, Jason Mittel (Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling [New York 2015]) emphasises three 1 https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/industry/technology/digital-media-trends-consumption -habits-survey.html. 394 PHOENIX processes an audience uses to develop a relationship with a character: recognition, alignment , and allegiance. Tracing how these processes might also work for those listening to the Iliad, Kozak draws attention to the way that neither television nor epic depend, for the most part, on having access to a character’s interior life. Rather, the cultivation of the audience’s sympathy or hostility is enabled through explicit narrative statements and external markers of differentiation such as appearance, repetitious behaviour, and description . In this sense, there is a greater kinship between performed poetry and popular television than between epic and the novel...

Homerski motivi v Kavafisovi pesmi »Priamova pot ponoči«

Članek obravnava homerske motive v pesmi »Priamova pot ponoči« sodobnega grškega pesnika Konstantina P. Kavafisa. Gre za eno od desetih pesmi z mitološko tematiko.Članek v prvem delu primerja Kavafisov pristop k obravnavi motiva, ki se nanaša na 24. spev Iliade in obravnava Priamovo pot k Ahilu. Ob tem se dotika tudi vprašanja Kavafisovih virov: se pesnik opira na starogrški izvirnik ali na prevod v novo grščino? V drugem delu članek podrobneje analizira mesta v pesmi, ki se tesno navezujejo na ep, v zaključku pa osvetli Kavafisov odmik od mita, ki je najbolj radikalen v zaključku pesmi.

Hinduism and its Symbols

Man has succeeded very much in going outside of himself and has made many achievements. He has travelled through the space, found out many machines, many stars etc.But man has not succeeded as he must have done in one field except a very few who have really searched within and transformed themselves and others into great self-realised,contented human beings, who are not moved by the pleasures and pains of life The epic character Nachikethas is a best example of this field’s best motivator.India’s epics are the greatest recorded epics known to man.It has been said that nothing exists that cannot be found in the epics of India. Bhagavat Geetha is the song of God.This literature continues to enchant readers and scholars the world over. This paper is an effort to search in a very limited way the spirit of this culture and its treasures.I bow down to the great power which is the power behind the entire existence.This power is smaller than the smallest and bigger than the biggest. Symbology is very common in all the ancient literature and epics. This paper is an effort to inculcate more interest in the present generation about the beauty and highly esteemed principles and values of the characters of the epics and the reality of life.

Manimekalai: The ancient Buddhist Tamil epic, its relevance to psychiatry.

This article refers to materials of psychiatric interest found in the Manimekalai written by the 2nd Century CE Buddhist poet Sathanar. From the early description of a wandering psychotic in the streets of Pukar, the ancient maritime capital of the Cholas it is opined that this description fits that of present-day schizophrenia. A drunkard making fun of a Jain monk and a cross-dressed individual are also found in the same streets. Manimekalai's request to the Chola king to convert the prison to a place of piety with Buddhist monks is mentioned. Lord Buddha's teachings on the compassionate way of life are presented.

"Unshapely Bodies and Beautifying Embellishments": The Ancient Epics in Byzantium, Allegorical Hermeneutics , and the Case of Ioannes Diakonos Galenos.

Artikel: Panagiotis A. AGAPITOS, Grammar, genre and patronage in the twelfth century: A scientific paradigm and its implications Benjamin ANDERSON, Public clocks in late antique and early medieval Constantinople Ken DARK - Jan KOSTENEC, The Patriarchal Palace at Constantinople in the Seventh Century: Locating the Thomaites and the Makron Verena FUGGER - Rudolf STEFEC, Das illuminierte Typikon des Eugenios-Klosters in Trapezunt Christian GASTGEBER, Griechischstudium im italienischen Humanismus. Eröffnungsvorträge des Demetrios Chalkondyles zum Griechischlehrgang in Padua 1463 und 1464 Igor GELARDA, Geilamir: Strategie, errori e nevrosi dell 'ultimo re dei Vandali Dominik HEHER, Der Boukoleonhafen und die angrenzenden Palaststrukturen Marketa KULHANKOVA., Der bestrafte Mönch. Ein erster Einblick in die Analyse der Erzähltechnik in den byzantinischen erbaulichen Diegeseis Mare D. LAUXTERMANN, Tomi, Mljet, Malta. Critical Notes on a Twelfth-Century Southem Italian Poem of Exile Lev LUKHOVITSKIY, Nikephoros Gregoras' Vita of St. Michael the Synkellos. Rewriting Techniques and Reconstruction of the Iconoclast Past in a 14th cent. hagiographical Metaphrasis Mihail MITREA, Maximos Neamonites and his letter collection Andreas E. MÜLLER, Die Lösung einer Aporie Panagiotis ROlLOS, .Llnshapely Bodies and Beautifying Embellishments": The Ancient Epics in Byzantium, Allegorical Hermeneutics, and the Case of Ioannes Diakonos Galenos Bram ROOSEN, Precepts for a Tranquil Life, A new edition of the Ad neophytos de patientia [CPG 7707.32]

Bhagavad Gita: A New Paradigm for Business Management

The world is changing at a pace faster than ever before and equally there is a richer pace in the change of human beings as well. In today's scenario the Darwinian concept ‘Survival of the fittest’ applies well with only slight changes in scope and approach. It not only counts on the physical dimensions, but also connects to the spiritual and emotional aspects. In the present scenario, the efficiency and effectiveness of an individual are determined by the Intelligence Quotient (IQ), Spiritual Quotient (SQ) and the Emotional Quotient (EQ) on both personal and the professional fronts. The Bhagavad Gita is considered to be one of the greatest scriptures of Indian spiritual thought. It contains within it, the distilled essence of the Upanishads, which encourage us to manifest total excellence in all that we do, and in all our relationships by discovering the latent divinity within us. Taking perspectives from the Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Hindu epic, this paper presents a management grid to link the profit-orientated approach with a purpose-orientated approach in running a business. Different aspects of aptitude and attitude towards competition and business sustainability are discussed with specific extracts from this Indian classic.

Gilgamesh among Us: Modern Encounters with the Ancient Epic by Theodore Ziolkowski (review)

Reviewed by: Gilgamesh among Us: Modern Encounters with the Ancient Epic by Theodore Ziolkowski Johannes Haubold Theodore Ziolkowski. Gilgamesh among Us: Modern Encounters with the Ancient Epic. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2011. xvi + 226 pp. 3 black-and-white ills. Cloth, $35. This book surveys modern receptions of the Gilgamesh Epic from the earliest lectures and publications of George Smith to recent reworkings of the epic in Western literature and art. The argument is divided into five chapters. After an introduction which outlines the contents of the poem and tells the story of its rediscovery, chapter 1, “The Initial Reception (1884–1935),” takes us from Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton’s Ishtar and Izdubar of 1884 via the “Babel and Bible” controversy of the early twentieth century to the predominantly German reception prior to World War II. Several major figures make an appearance here, including Freud, Jung, Rilke, Hesse, Mann, Döblin, Canetti, and Pannwitz. Chapter 2, “Representative Beginnings (1941–1958),” takes up the thread of German engagement with the towering achievements of Hermann Kasack’s Die Stadt hinter dem Strom (61–64) and, especially, Hans Henny Jahnn’s Fluß ohne Ufer (67–74), an enigmatic re-imagining of the Gilgamesh story on a scale that deserves a monograph study of its own. Elsewhere, the reception of Gilgamesh continues with “four poets in English” (Lucas and Bridson in Britain; Olson and Corso in the United States; 48–59) and with the first musical settings, among them Martinů’s oratorio The Epic of Gilgamesh (75–77). Chapter 3, “The Popularization of Gilgamesh (1959–1978),” surveys new translations into the major European languages (79–80), and with them a range of popular responses. Ziolkowski notes a surge in adaptations for children, as well as other initiatives aimed at a wider public (81–82). It is against this background, he argues, that we need to see more ambitious experiments in musical and literary reception, including Per Nørgård’s opera Gilgamesh (105–7); Louis Zukofsky’s “canto 23” (which forms part of his larger poetic cycle entitled “A,” 85–88); Stanisław Lem’s review of an imaginary Gilgamesh adaptation in his A Perfect Vacuum (Doskonała Próżnia, 97–99); and the “fictional exuberances” of John Gardner’s The Sunlight Dialogues, Philip Roth’s The Great American Novel, and Rhoda Lerman’s Call Me Ishtar (99–105). Ziolkowski also draws attention to what he argues was the first overtly gay reworking of Gilgamesh, in Guido Bachmann’s novel of the same name (91–94). Chapter 4, “The Contemporization of Gilgamesh (1979–1999),” continues the theme of popularization in a political key: Ziolkowski takes us on a whistle-stop tour of late twentieth-century preoccupations, from successive crises in the Near East (109) to post-colonialism (109–10); the spread of psychoanalysis, both in a Freudian and a Jungian key (112–19); deconstruction (118–19); the rise of ecologism [End Page 669] (110, 123–35); and minority politics in the USA (135–38). Chapter 5, “Gilgamesh in the Twenty-First Century (2000–2009),” sets out to show that “Gilgamesh, who was born and flourished in the mid-third millennium b.c.e., is alive and well” (154). Ziolkowski identifies “a new focus” (167) on cultural and religious conflict in the wake of Samuel Huntington and the events of 9/11, although it must be said that the responses of Schrott and Begrich (171–78) do not fit this framework particularly well, and in practice much of the chapter seems designed to tie up loose ends. The book is equipped with a timeline of works discussed (199–205), end notes (207–20), and an index (221–26), but no bibliography. In lucid and unpretentious prose, Ziolkowski sets out what he sees as the most significant “Western” responses to the epic of Gilgamesh. He leaves the Near and Far East to “appropriately qualified scholars” (x): one hopes that others will take up the invitation, and that they will make connections with the materials explored in this book. Ziolkowski also passes over Latin America and the Caribbean—perhaps he felt there was nothing to say (for a possible starting point, see C...

Book review: The Epic Gaze: Vision, Gender and Narrative in Ancient Epic, written by Lovatt, H.

Book review: The Epic Gaze: Vision, Gender and Narrative in Ancient Epic, written by Lovatt, H.