Approaches to Greek Myth

by Lowell Edmunds (Editor)

Overview

Now thoroughly revised and updated, this volume offers a variety of historical, comparative, and theoretical perspectives on Greek myth.

Since the first edition of Approaches to Greek Myth was published in 1990, interest in Greek mythology has surged. There was no simple agreement on the subject of "myth" in classical antiquity, and there remains none today. Is myth a narrative or a performance? Can myth be separated from its context? What did myths mean to ancient Greeks and what do they mean today?

Here, Lowell Edmunds brings together practitioners of eight of the most important contemporary approaches to the subject. Whether exploring myth from a historical, comparative, or theoretical perspective, each contributor lucidly describes a particular approach, applies it to one or more myths, and reflects on what the approach yields that others do not. Edmunds's new general and chapter-level introductions recontextualize these essays and also touch on recent developments in scholarship in the interpretation of Greek myth.

Contributors are Jordi Pàmias, on the reception of Greek myth through history; H. S. Versnel, on the intersections of myth and ritual; Carolina López-Ruiz, on the near Eastern contexts; Joseph Falaky Nagy, on Indo-European structure in Greek myth; William Hansen, on myth and folklore; Claude Calame, on the application of semiotic theory of narrative; Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood, on reading visual sources such as vase paintings; and Robert A. Segal, on psychoanalytic interpretations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421414188
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	10/06/2014
Edition description:	second edition
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Lowell Edmunds is an emeritus professor of classics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. His books include Intertextuality and the Reading of Roman Poetry and Poet, Public, and Performance in Ancient Greece, both published by Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

Preface
General Introductions
Chapter 1. The Reception of Greek Myth
Chapter 2. What's Sauce for the Goose is Sauce for the Gander: Myth and Ritual, Old and New
Chapter 3. Greek and Near Easter Mythologies: A Story of Mediterranean
Chapter 4. Hierarchy, Heroes, and Heads: Indo-European Structures in Greek Myth
Chapter 5. Odysseus and the Oar: A Comparative Approach to a Greek Legend
Chapter 6. Narrative Semantics and Pragmatics: The Poetic Creation of Cyrene
Chapter 7. Mythis in Images: Theseus and Medea as a Case Study
Chapter 8. Greek Myth and Psychoanalysis
Contributors Index

Editorial Reviews

The quality and success of the first edition of this work finds a new iteration in the thoroughly new second edition . . . Very useful for both scholars and seminars on ancient Greek mythology.
—Choice

Well organized, edited, and arranged, this text is of unquestioned value to all teachers of mythology, to the advanced student of the classics, and to the research scholar, a welcome resource volume.
—Classical World

A valuable collection of eight essays representing a variety of approaches useful in the study of Greek myth . . . Edmunds's book provides a convenient opportunity to grapple with the current methodologies used in the analysis of literature and myth.
—New England Classical Newsletter and Journal

The collection as a whole provides a handy introduction to some of the more useful methodological approaches to and the previous scholarship on the subject of Greek myths and their interpretation. Some articles will certainly interest some readers more than others. Most, however, are provocative, well written, and carefully documented, each contributing to the interpretation of Greek mythology.
—Phoenix

From the Publisher

Well organized, edited, and arranged, this text is of unquestioned value to all teachers of mythology, to the advanced student of the classics, and to the research scholar, a welcome resource volume.

Classical World

Four European and four American classical scholars present methods of interpreting Greek myths. Well established approaches include historical, ritual, and comparisons with the Near East, with other Indo-European mythology, and with folklore. Newer approaches are structuralism and semiotics, and iconography. No index. Paper edition (unseen), $14.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

The quality and success of the first edition of this work finds a new iteration in the thoroughly new second edition . . . Very useful for both scholars and seminars on ancient Greek mythology.

Choice

The collection as a whole provides a handy introduction to some of the more useful methodological approaches to and the previous scholarship on the subject of Greek myths and their interpretation. Some articles will certainly interest some readers more than others. Most, however, are provocative, well written, and carefully documented, each contributing to the interpretation of Greek mythology.

Phoenix Rina

A valuable collection of eight essays representing a variety of approaches useful in the study of Greek myth . . . Edmunds's book provides a convenient opportunity to grapple with the current methodologies used in the analysis of literature and myth.

New England Classical Newsletter and Journal

"The collection as a whole provides a handy introduction to some of the more useful methodological approaches to and the previous scholarship on the subject of Greek myths and their interpretation. Some articles will certainly interest some readers more than others. Most, however, are provocative, well written, and carefully documented, each contributing to the interpretation of Greek mythology."

Phoenix

"The collection as a whole provides a handy introduction to some of the more useful methodological approaches to and the previous scholarship on the subject of Greek myths and their interpretation. Some articles will certainly interest some readers more than others. Most, however, are provocative, well written, and carefully documented, each contributing to the interpretation of Greek mythology."

Phoenix

The collection as a whole provides a handy introduction to some of the more useful methodological approaches to and the previous scholarship on the subject of Greek myths and their interpretation. Some articles will certainly interest some readers more than others. Most, however, are provocative, well written, and carefully documented, each contributing to the interpretation of Greek mythology.

Phoenix - Alan Rawn

A valuable collection of eight essays representing a variety of approaches useful in the study of Greek myth... Edmunds' book provides a convenient opportunity to grapple with the current methodologies used in the analysis of literature and myth.

New England Classical Newsletter and Journal - Susan Heuck Allen