Helen of Troy and Her Shameless Phantom (Myth and Poetics).

Austin, Norman:

ISBN 10: 0801429552 / ISBN 13: 9780801429552

Published by Cornell University Press. 01.06.1994., 1994

About this Item

XIV, 223 Seiten / p. Aus der Bibliothek von Prof. Wolfgang Haase, langjährigem Herausgeber der ANRW und des International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT) / From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - sehr guter Zustand / very good condition - Like the male heroes of epic poetry, Helen of Troy has been immortalized, but not for deeds of strength and honor; she is remembered as the beautiful woman who disgraced herself and betrayed her family and state. Norman Austin here surveys interpretations of Helen in Greek literature from the Homeric period through later antiquity. He looks most closely at a revisionist myth according to which Helen never sailed to Troy but remained blameless while a libertine phantom or ghost impersonated her at Troy. Comparing the functions of contradictory images of Helen, Austin helps to clarify the problematic relation between beauty and honor and between ugliness and shame in ancient Greece. -- Austin first discusses the canonical account of the Iliad and the Odyssey: Helen as the archetype of woman without shame. He next considers different versions of Helen in the Homeric tradition. Among these, he shows how Sappho presents Helen as an icon of absolute beauty while she defends her own preference of eros over honor and her choice of woman as the object of desire. Austin then turns to the three major authors who repudiated the traditional Helen of Troy - the lyric poet Stesichorus and the dramatist Euripides, who embraced the alternative myth of Helen's phantom; and the historian Herodotus, who claimed to have found in Egypt a Helen story that dispenses with both Helen and the phantom. Austin maintains that the conflicting motives that prompted these writers to rehabilitate Helen led to further revisions of her image, but none that endured as a credible substitute for the Helen of epic tradition. ISBN 9780801429552 Sprache: Englisch Gewicht in Gramm: 518 15,2 x 2,0 x 22,9 cm, Originalleinen kaschiert mit Schutzumschlag / Cloth laminated with dust jacket.

Seller Inventory # 1192290

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Helen of Troy and Her Shameless Phantom (Myth and Poetics).
• Publisher: Cornell University Press. 01.06.1994.
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801429552
• ISBN 13: 9780801429552
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Gut
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Weight: 518 grams
• Seller catalogs:
  • Antike

About this title

Synopsis

Like the male heroes of epic poetry, Helen of Troy has been immortalized, but not for deeds of strength and honor; she is remembered as the beautiful woman who disgraced herself and betrayed her family and state. Norman Austin here surveys interpretations of Helen in Greek literature from the Homeric period through later antiquity. He looks most closely at a revisionist myth according to which Helen never sailed to Troy, but remained blameless, while a libertine phantom or ghost impersonated her at Troy. Comparing the functions of contradictory images of Helen, Austin helps to clarify the problematic relations between beauty and honor and between ugliness and shame in ancient Greece.

Austin first discusses the canonical account of the Iliad and the Odyssey: Helen as the archetype of woman without shame. He next considers different versions of Helen in the Homeric tradition. Among these, he shows how Sappho presents Helen as an icon of absolute beauty while she defends her own preference of eros over honor and her choice of woman as the object of desire. Austin then turns to three major authors who repudiated the traditional Helen of Troy: the lyric poet Stesichorus and the dramatist Euripides, who embraced the alternative myth of Helen's phantom; and the historian Herodotus, who claimed to have found in Egypt a Helen story that dispenses with both Helen and the phantom. Austin maintains that the conflicting motives that prompted these writers to rehabilitate Helen led to further revisions of her image, though none have endured as a credible substitute for the Helen of epic tradition.

About the Author

Norman Austin is Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Arizona.