Muthos

Muthos
Author: Loren D. Marsh
Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2021-04-12
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 3949189041

This book presents a new analysis of Aristotle's concept of narrative in the Poetics. Arguing that the term muthos in the Poetics cannot be understood as equivalent to "plot," Marsh shows that the muthos concept is instead a useful tool for grouping larger sets of narratives based on specific criteria. The results of this muthos analysis indicate that in the classical period, neither formal structure nor the structure of events was determined by theatrical genre, but by the specific combination of tone and plot type. Marsh concludes that the category of genre itself may be less helpful for classifying these plays than is typically assumed.

Logos and Muthos

Logos and Muthos
Author: William Wians
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2010-07-02
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1438427433

Explores the philosophical dimensions present in the works of ancient Greek poets and playwrights.

Plato the Myth Maker

Plato the Myth Maker
Author: Luc Brisson
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2000-12-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780226075198

We think of myth as a fictional story, and Plato was the first to use the term muthos in that sense. But Plato also used muthos to describe the practice of making and telling stories, the oral transmission of all that a community keeps in its collective memory. In the first part of Plato the Myth Maker, Luc Brisson reconstructs Plato's multifaceted and not uncritical description of muthos in light of the latter's famous Atlantis story. The second part of the book contrasts this sense of myth, as Plato does, with another form of speech that he believed was far superior: the logos of philosophy. Appearing for the first time in English, Plato the Myth Maker is a solid and important contribution to the history of myth, based on the privileged testimony of one of its most influential critics and supporters.

Aristotle's Poetics

Aristotle's Poetics
Author: Stephen Halliwell
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 1998-12
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780226313948

In this, the fullest, sustained interpretation of Aristotle's Poetics available in English, Stephen Halliwell demonstrates that the Poetics, despite its laconic brevity, is a coherent statement of a challenging theory of poetic art, and it hints towards a theory of mimetic art in general. Assessing this theory against the background of earlier Greek views on poetry and art, particularly Plato's, Halliwell goes further than any previous author in setting Aristotle's ideas in the wider context of his philosophical system. The core of the book is a fresh appraisal of Aristotle's view of tragic drama, in which Halliwell contends that at the heart of the Poetics lies a philosophical urge to instill a secularized understanding of Greek tragedy. "Essential reading not only for all serious students of the Poetics . . . but also for those—the great majority—who have prudently fought shy of it altogether."—B. R. Rees, Classical Review "A splendid work of scholarship and analysis . . . a brilliant interpretation."—Alexander Nehamas, Times Literary Supplement

Socratic Charis

Socratic Charis
Author: Lisa Atwood Wilkinson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2013
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0739167170

This book explores the possibility that Plato's philosophia is influenced by non-agonal practices and values that historically and philosophically antedate the agonal practices of the Athenian ekklesia. The author surveys literature concerning the predominance of agonal in ancient Greek culture, the values associated with oral poetic performance as a religious practice, and the ubiquitous character of the gift practice known as xenia in the ancient world. The author compares the structure of the agon to the structure of other ancient practices, and reasons that while agonistic practices are oppositional and binary, poetic and social practices are narrative and plural and exemplify, alternative to the agonal, the value of charis--grace. Reading Socratic speech and Socratic inquiry in terms of charis illuminates the narrative structure of Plato's portrayal of Socrates and precludes one-dimensional analyses of Plato's writings as philosophically agonistic and demonstrative. Rather the value of Socratic charis illustrates the value of genuine dialogue, and the author suggests how revaluing Socratic dialogue in light of charis can be relevant to current thinking about philosophy, politics, and the agon.

Time and Narrative, Volume 1

Time and Narrative, Volume 1
Author: Paul Ricoeur
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 1990-09-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780226713328

In the first two volumes of this work, Paul Ricoeur examined the relations between time and narrative in historical writing, fiction and theories of literature. This final volume, a comprehensive reexamination and synthesis of the ideas developed in volumes 1 and 2, stands as Ricoeur's most complete and satisfying presentation of his own philosophy.

Myth, History, and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible

Myth, History, and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible
Author: Paul K.-K. Cho
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2019-02-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1108757545

This book examines the long-debated issue of the relationship between the Hebrew Bible and ancient Near Eastern myths. Using an innovative, interdisciplinary methodology that combines theories of metaphor and narrative, Paul Cho argues that the Hebrew Bible is more deeply mythological than previously recognized. Because the Hebrew Bible contains fragments of the sea myth but no continuous narrative, the study of myth in the Hebrew Bible is usually circumscribed to the level of motifs and themes. Cho challenges this practice and demonstrates that the Hebrew Bible contains shorter and longer compositions studded with imagery that are structured by the plot of sea myths. Through close analysis of key Near Eastern myths and biblical texts, Cho shows that myth had a more fundamental influence on the plot structure and conceptual framework of the Hebrew Bible than has been recognized.

Coming to Terms

Coming to Terms
Author: Markus Asper
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2023-08-30
Genre:
ISBN: 3111314782

Silence in the Land of Logos

Silence in the Land of Logos
Author: Silvia Montiglio
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2000
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0691004722

In ancient Greece, the spoken word connoted power, whether in the free speech accorded to citizens or in the voice of the poet, whose song was thought to know no earthly bounds. But how did silence fit into the mental framework of a society that valued speech so highly? Here Silvia Montiglio provides the first comprehensive investigation into silence as a distinctive and meaningful phenomenon in archaic and classical Greece. Arguing that the notion of silence is not a universal given but is rather situated in a complex network of associations and values, Montiglio seeks to establish general principles for understanding silence through analyses of cultural practices, including religion, literature, and law. Unlike the silence of a Christian before an ineffable God, which signifies the uselessness of words, silence in Greek religion paradoxically expresses the power of logos--for example, during prayer and sacrifice, it serves as a shield against words that could offend the gods. Montiglio goes on to explore silence in the world of the epic hero, where words are equated with action and their absence signals paralysis or tension in power relationships. Her other examples include oratory, a practice in which citizens must balance their words with silence in very complex ways in order to show that they do not abuse their right to speak. Inquiries into lyric poetry, drama, medical writings, and historiography round out this unprecedented study, revealing silence as a force in its own right.

A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography

A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography
Author: John Marincola
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 697
Release: 2010-12-09
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1444393820

This two-volume Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography reflects the new directions and interpretations that have arisen in the field of ancient historiography in the past few decades. Comprises a series of cutting edge articles written by recognised scholars Presents broad, chronological treatments of important issues in the writing of history and antiquity These are complemented by chapters on individual genres and sub-genres from the fifth century B.C.E. to the fourth century C.E. Provides a series of interpretative readings on the individual historians Contains essays on the neighbouring genres of tragedy, biography, and epic, among others, and their relationship to history