The Heroic Ideal

The Heroic Ideal
Author: M. Gregory Kendrick
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0786457511

The word "hero" seems in its present usage, an all-purpose moniker applied to everyone from Medal of Honor recipients to celebrities to comic book characters. This book explores the Western idea of the hero, from its initial use in ancient Greece, where it identified demigods or aristocratic, mortal warriors, through today. Sections examine the concept of the hero as presented in the ancient, medieval, and modern worlds. Special attention is paid to particular heroic types, such as warriors, martyrs, athletes, knights, saints, scientists, rebels, secret servicemen, and even anti-heroes. This book also reconstructs how definitions of heroism have been inextricably linked to shifts in Western thinking about religion, social relations, political authority, and ethical conduct. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Beowulf

Beowulf
Author:
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 70
Release: 2012-03-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0486111105

Finest heroic poem in Old English celebrates the exploits of Beowulf, a young nobleman of southern Sweden. Combines myth, Christian and pagan elements, and history into a powerful narrative. Genealogies.

The Wheel of Ideals

The Wheel of Ideals
Author: David Bishop
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 474
Release: 2006-08-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 184728535X

The Wheel of Ideals shows three families of ideals, the heroic, civic and altruistic, that sometimes work together and sometimes conflict. Every ideal has its true believers, and unbelievers: some people believe in it strongly, others less strongly, and others not at all--or so they claim. As ideals divide, people also divide. We can't all get along, perfectly, all the time, even with ourselves. Why not? Do we need conflict to make progress? Is perfect peace too peaceful? As ideals can be ignored or betrayed, they can also be carried too far, into decadence: dionysian overheating and the apollonian deep freeze. If you carried an ideal too far, how would you come to realize your mistake? How would you feel the gravity, the balancing pull, of the ideal calling you home? Without failure, without going too far, what is lost? What is the good of all these ideals, and these forms of decadence? The Wheel of Ideals suggests that we will go on asking these questions.

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great
Author: Pierre Briant
Publisher: Thameshuds
Total Pages: 186
Release: 1996
Genre: Generals
ISBN: 9780500300701

Chronicles the life and career of the Greek king who conquered much of Europe, Asia, and India during his short life.

The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours

The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours
Author: Gregory Nagy
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 657
Release: 2020-01-10
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0674244192

What does it mean to be a hero? The ancient Greeks who gave us Achilles and Odysseus had a very different understanding of the term than we do today. Based on the legendary Harvard course that Gregory Nagy has taught for well over thirty years, The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours explores the roots of Western civilization and offers a masterclass in classical Greek literature. We meet the epic heroes of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, but Nagy also considers the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the songs of Sappho and Pindar, and the dialogues of Plato. Herodotus once said that to read Homer was to be a civilized person. To discover Nagy’s Homer is to be twice civilized. “Fascinating, often ingenious... A valuable synthesis of research finessed over thirty years.” —Times Literary Supplement “Nagy exuberantly reminds his readers that heroes—mortal strivers against fate, against monsters, and...against death itself—form the heart of Greek literature... [He brings] in every variation on the Greek hero, from the wily Theseus to the brawny Hercules to the ‘monolithic’ Achilles to the valiantly conflicted Oedipus.” —Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Monthly

Grendel

Grendel
Author: John Gardner
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2010-06-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307756785

This classic and much lauded retelling of Beowulf follows the monster Grendel as he learns about humans and fights the war at the center of the Anglo Saxon classic epic. "An extraordinary achievement."—New York Times The first and most terrifying monster in English literature, from the great early epic Beowulf, tells his own side of the story in this frequently banned book. This is the novel William Gass called "one of the finest of our contemporary fictions."

Heroic Revivals from Carlyle to Yeats

Heroic Revivals from Carlyle to Yeats
Author: Geraldine Higgins
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2012-08-16
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1137280956

This book reassesses the cultural and political dimensions of the Irish Revival's heroic ideal and explores its implications for the construction of Irish modernity. By foregrounding the heroic ideal, it shows how the cultural landscape carved out by these writers is far from homogenous.

Life, Myth, and Art in Ancient Greece

Life, Myth, and Art in Ancient Greece
Author: Emma Stafford
Publisher: Getty Publications
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2004
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780892367733

"Ancient Greece is one of the wellsprings of Western civilization. It transformed and has continued to refresh our architecture, drama, literature, art, philosophy, and politics. Life, Myth, and Art in Ancient Greece is a richly illustrated guide to this heritage and to its roots in the beliefs, rituals, and artistic achievements of an extraordinary culture." "This book covers themes that have long inspired the imagination, including myths of the gods and goddesses who intervened in-human affairs ; the voyages and conflicts of the heroes, from Herakles to Odysseus ; the many columned temples that studded the Greek empire from Athens to Sicily and Asia Minor ; the Dionysian rites of revelry and inebriation ; the Eleusinian mysteries, so secret that even today we can only speculate about what they involved ; major sites such as the Acropolis and the complex formed around the oracle at Delphi ; and the original Olympic games."

Heroic

Heroic
Author: Bill Delvaux
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2019-04-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 153593946X

It’s in the movies we see. It’s in the news we hear. It's in the stories we tell. Every man is stirred by the heroic. From boyhood, we search for heroes, starting with our fathers. But somewhere along the way, all our heroes disappoint us. And our attempts to be a hero fair no better, leaving us confused and unsure. Yet the heroic longing never leaves us. We want to be that heroic man, but we do not know how. Jesus does. He is the great Hero of all time. And He calls men to follow Him. As we follow, we will quickly realize that the path is surprising. He will first lead us into a place of fear and trembling. He will lead us into death. It is our initiation as men into the new life of the heroic. But the death will be followed by a stunning resurrection. We will find out our true names before Him and be given a heroic quest for His kingdom. And most importantly, we will discover the secret of true greatness, letting our lives go to serve others. In the end, we become most heroic in the silence of His presence. Here we will feel His love, as he remakes us into His heroic image, uniting us to Himself.

A Personal Odyssey

A Personal Odyssey
Author: Thomas Sowell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2000
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

"The vignettes of the people and places that made an impression on Thomas Sowell at various stages of his life range from the poor and the powerless to the mighty and the wealthy, from a home for homeless boys to the White House, as well as ranging across the United States and around the world. It also includes Sowell's startling discovery of his own origins during his teenage years.".