Academic literature on the topic 'Circe (Greek mythology) in literature'

The myth of Circe and Odysseus has been told, interpreted and retold from Homer's time to the present. This thesis begins with a detailed study of Homer's balancing of positive and negative elements of the myth and argues that Homer's Circe is connected with age-old traditions of goddess worship, particularly of Artemis of Ephesus. Chapters III and IV investigate the cultural context in which the purely negative Circe of the Homeric allegorists developed and how this allegorical Circe affected works by other ancient writers, particularly Virgil and Ovid. Later chapters demonstrate how this negative allegorical view of Circe prevailed through the Renaissance and seventeenth century, as evidenced in mythographies, Calderon's plays and by Spenser's Acrasia. The study concludes that allegorical interpretations of the Circe myth were founded on body-soul dualism, so that not until this belief is questioned and abandoned by Joyce and Atwood in the twentieth century are more original and/or positive Circes found.

This paper analyses the feminist revisionism of the Circe-myth in the rewritings by Eudora Welty, Margaret Atwood, and Madeline Miller. To that end, the paper first examines three different ways of discussing rewritings: Jeremy M. Rosen’s genre of minor-character elaboration, Linda Hutcheon’s take on postmodern parody, and Alicia Ostriker’s feminist revisionist mythmaking. Then, after positioning itself with the feminist revisionism, the paper conducts a brief reading of the myth as it appears in the Odyssey, followed by readings of the three rewritings: Welty’s short story “Circe,” Atwood’s poetry cycle “Circe/Mud Poems,” and Miller’s novel Circe. Through the reading of these works together, a pattern emerges of criticising former representations, exploring why they are problematic, and resisting them in order to create change.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2001.<br>Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 277-283). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

This thesis is a systematic study of the representations of Telamonian Ajax in archaic and classical Greece. Its aim is to trace, examine, and understand how and why the constitutive elements of his myth evolved in the way they did in the long chain of its receptions. Particular attention is paid to the historical, socio-cultural and performative contexts of the literary works and visual representations I analyse as well as to the audience for which these were produced. The study is divided into three parts, each of which reflects a different reality in which Ajax has been received (different with respect to time, place, or literary genre). Artistic representations of the hero, as well as his religious dimension and political valence, are consistently taken into account throughout the thesis. The first part - Ajax from Salamis - focuses on epic poetry, and thus investigates the Panhellenic significance of the hero (rather than his reception in a particular place). It treats the entire corpus of early Greek hexameter poetry that has come down to us in written form as the reception of a common oral tradition which each poem has adapted for its own purpose. I establish that in the larger tradition of the Trojan War, Ajax was a hero characterised by his gift of invulnerability. Because of this power, he is the figure who protects his companions - dead or alive - par excellence. However, this ability probably also led him to become over-confident, and, accordingly, to reject Athena's support on the battlefield. Hence, the goddess's hostility towards him, which she demonstrated by making him lose the reward of apioteia (Achilles' arms). His defeat made Ajax so angry that he became mad and committed suicide. I also show how this traditional Ajax has been adapted to fit into the Iliad's own aesthetics. The second part - Ajax in Aegina - concentrates on the reception of Ajax in the victory odes of Pindar and Bacchylides for Aeginetan patrons. I argue that in the first part of the fifth century, Ajax becomes a figure imbued with a strong political dimension (especially with regard to the relationship between Athens and Aegina). Accordingly, I show how the presence of Ajax in Pindar's and Bacchylides' poems is often politically charged, and significant within the historical context. I discuss the influence this had on his representation. Finally, the third part moves to Athens, as I consider Ajax's reception during three distinct periods: the sixth century, the first half of the fifth century, and finally the rest of the classical period. I equally insist on the political dimension of the figure. I demonstrate that his figure undergoes a shift of paradigm in the early fifth century, which deeply affects his representation. By following in the footsteps of Ajax, this study prompts a series of reflections and comments on each of the works in which the hero features as well as on the relationship of these works to the historical context in which they were produced.

In the first chapter we intend to present, although in a restricted sense, some of the positions of the most recent critics, which will allow us to determine the meaning of our Author.<br>The next chapter is mainly dedicated to giving information which establishes the relationships between the most important mythological traditions and classical works. Such information will serve to find and establish the components of the Pavesian culture.<br>Cesare Pavese was born in Piemonte, Italy, in 1908, he lived in the historical period during which fascism and nazism triumphed and through all the horrors of the immediate after-war. Pavese's incapacity to be concretely active in the political field brings him to relive, in his writings, the ancient Italian cult of the Evocativo. This technique of his is a hermetic method of going through with his ethical social mission. To evoke a god in a moment of national crisis is a traditionally Italian ritual; while the invocation to a God or a Muse is also part of the literary tradition. The classicism of Pavese is now recognized by different critics. Their basis for this decision is his work Dialoghi con Leuco. However, our attention is more focused on the romance Il diavolo sulle colline which occupies the central part of the trilogy La Bella Estate.<br>This text Il diavolo sulle colline contains many meanings which requires different approaches--such as the cultural precedents of other authors, and even those of Pavese himself--to decipher. The many messages in this work can all be traced back to the concept of death and rebirth. Pavese uses themes which are beloved to Dante and the humanists, who were themselves inspired by the great Greek and Latin authors.<br>And thus, we are left wondering whether Il diavolo sulle colline was conceived according to the norms of the classical tragedy, which was based on the celebrations in honor of the god Dionisus (the Hellenic demon venerated by the Latins under the name of Bacchus, and affiliated with an old Italian divinity whose symbolic name was Liber Pater). Poli, a dominating figure in Il diavolo sulle colline could be the double of this god. Our discussion will therefore be founded on the testimony of mythographers.<br>From a methodological point of view, our analysis will not take into account the chronological sequences, but rather the themes which imply the operation of segmenting the text.