Regarding Penelope: From Character to Poetics, Second Edition: 101 (Hellenic Studies Series) - Softcover

Felson, Nancy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674296079 ISBN 13: 9780674296077

Verlag: Harvard University Press, 2025

Inhaltsangabe

A coy tease, enchantress, adulteress, irresponsible mother, hard-hearted wife―such are the possible images of Penelope that Homer playfully presents to listeners and readers of the Odyssey, and that his narration ultimately contradicts or fails to confirm. In this updated and expanded second edition of Regarding Penelope, Nancy Felson explores the relationship between Homer’s construction of Penelope and his more general approach to poetic production and reception.

Felson begins by considering Penelope as an object of male gazes (those of Telemachus, Odysseus, the suitors, and Agamemnon’s ghost) and as a subject acting from her own desire. Focusing on how the audience might try to predict Penelope’s fate when confronted with the different ways the male characters envision her, she develops the notion of “possible plots” as structures in the poem that initiate the plots Penelope actually plays out. She then argues that Homer’s manipulation of Penelope’s character maintains the narrative fluidity and the dynamics of the Odyssey and reveals how the oral performance of the poem teases and captivates its audience, just as Penelope and Odysseus entrap each other in their courtship dance. Homer, Felson further explains, exploits the similarities between the poetic and erotic domains, often using similar terminology to describe them.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Nancy Felson is Professor Emerita of Classics at the University of Georgia.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Harvard University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2025
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0674296079
• ISBN 13: 9780674296077
• Einband: Tapa blanda
• Auflage: 2
• Anzahl der Seiten: 276
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Lens by Lynah; www.amazon.com; ; 38 Avenue John F. Kennedy; Luxembourg; L-1855; Luxemburg