Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Divine councils and apocalyptic myth
- 2 Theoxeny
- 3 Romance
- 4 Odyssey 4
- 5 Odyssey 5
- 6 Odyssey 6–8, 10–12, 13.1–187; Genesis 28–33; Argonautic myth
- 7 Odysseus and Jonah
- 8 The combat myth
- 9 Catabasis, consultation, and the vision
- 10 Thrinakia and Exodus 32: Odysseus and Moses
- 11 The suitors and the depiction of impious men in wisdom literature
- 12 Odysseus and Jesus
- 13 Contained apocalypse
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index locorum
- Subject index
Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 February 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Divine councils and apocalyptic myth
- 2 Theoxeny
- 3 Romance
- 4 Odyssey 4
- 5 Odyssey 5
- 6 Odyssey 6–8, 10–12, 13.1–187; Genesis 28–33; Argonautic myth
- 7 Odysseus and Jonah
- 8 The combat myth
- 9 Catabasis, consultation, and the vision
- 10 Thrinakia and Exodus 32: Odysseus and Moses
- 11 The suitors and the depiction of impious men in wisdom literature
- 12 Odysseus and Jesus
- 13 Contained apocalypse
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index locorum
- Subject index
Summary
Why a new study of the Odyssey? Lowe, in his analysis of classical plot types in Western literature, revises Northrop Frye's (1976) claim for the Bible's pre-eminence as most influential text, replacing it with the Odyssey (2000: 129):
A generation ago, it hardly seemed controversial to declare that “western literature has been more influenced by the Bible than by any other book”. Yet already this is looking less true, and perhaps it never was. In the forms and media of popular fiction, at least, the pagan influence of the Odyssey has always been incomparably more alive. Now, as the traditional borders between high and low culture seem to be opening permanently to traffic, that persistent influence is more visible than ever.
Lowe argues for its pre-eminence not only as a paradigm for later narrative, but for its command of an unprecedented variety of narrative types (128):
[T]he Odyssey is the most encyclopaedic compendium of technical plot devices in the whole of ancient storytelling, and one of the most dazzling displays of narrative fireworks anywhere in literature.
I will also look at the Odyssey as a “compendium of plot devices,” if from another perspective: how it combines distinct narrative types, or different genres of myth.
Lowe divides Western literature into two subdivisions, a major key, first present in the Odyssey, and a minor key, first present in the Iliad (2000: 128), a neat correction of the usual bias that assigns greater importance to tragedy.
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- Homer's Odyssey and the Near East , pp. 1 - 15Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011