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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherBloomsbury Academic & Professional
ISBN-101350082570
ISBN-139781350082571
eBay Product ID (ePID)17038484018
Product Key Features
Number of Pages216 Pages
Publication NameAnticipation and Anachrony in Statius' Thebaid
LanguageEnglish
Publication Year2019
SubjectAncient / Greece, Poetry, Ancient & Classical
TypeTextbook
Subject AreaLiterary Criticism, Poetry, History
AuthorRobert Simms
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height0.6 in
Item Weight17.1 Oz
Item Length9.2 in
Item Width6.1 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceCollege Audience
Dewey Edition23
ReviewsAn incredibly inspiring study on narrative techniques used by Statius ... A novel and original reading of the Thebaid ... Its publication should be met with joy.
Dewey Decimal871.01
Table Of ContentIntroduction: Notum iter ad Thebas Prisca Nomina An Audience for the Thebaid Suspense, Anticipation, and Surprise Epic and Drama Chapter 1: Beginning with the End They call me Jocasta The Thebaid's Prologue Chapter 2: Portentous Beginnings Argos and the Seeds of War The Wedding Portents The Necklace of Harmonia Argia's Unease Amphiaraus and the Flight of Birds The Bacchant and the Necromancy Chapter 3: Hypsipyle and the Army at Nemea Hypsipyle's Lemnian Narrative The Death and Funeral of Opheltes Funeral Consolations Chapter 4: Jocasta Tisiphone's Fears Jocasta and Polynices Jocasta and Eteocles Chronology and Suspense Strategies of Elision Jocasta's Hope and Death Chapter 5: Iam Pater Est The Curse Anticipation Outcome Chapter 6: Portentous Ends Amphiaraus Tydeus Hippomedon Parthenopaeus Capaneus Adrastus Menoeceus Chapter 7: Hic imperat, ille minatur The Anonymous Critic Polynices Eteocles Chapter 8: Concluding the Thebaid The Idalian Doves The Edict of Creon The Choices of Oryntus Ubi incluta fama Antigone? The Twin Flames Choosing Theseus Fidissime Phegeus Bibliography Index
SynopsisApplying the latest narratological theory and focusing on the use of anachrony (or 'chronological deviation'), this book explores how Statius competes - successfully - for a place within an established literary canon. Given the tremendous pressure on poets to render familiar stories in unfamiliar and novel ways, how did he achieve this? When Statius elected to sing of the quarrelsome sons of Oedipus he was acutely aware that this was a well-trod road, one frequently reproduced in a variety of genres - epic, drama and lyric poetry. Despite this highly varied corpus against which he sought to contend, he boasts that his epic has novelty and proudly declares that he is now counted among the 'prisca nomina', or ancient names, that sang of Thebes. And indeed precisely the fact that there were so many story-versions (a greater number survive for comparison than for any other work from antiquity, rivaling even the popularity of the Trojan legend) means that the story is conveniently positioned to offer a unique exploration into how Statius creates a compelling story despite working within a saturated and overly familiar mythic tradition. This book argues that it is chiefly through the use of narrative anachrony, or non-chronological modes of narration, that Statius manipulates states of anticipation, suspense, and even surprise in his audience.
LC Classification NumberPA6698.S56 2019
