After Antiquity: Greek Language, Myth, and MetaphorWith the publication of Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition, widely considered a classic in Modern Greek studies and in collateral fields, Margaret Alexiou established herself as a major intellectual innovator on the interconnections among ancient, medieval, and modern Greek cultures. In her new, eagerly awaited book, Alexiou looks at how language defines the contours of myth and metaphor. Drawing on texts from the New Testament to the present day, Alexiou shows the diversity of the Greek language and its impact at crucial stages of its history on people who were not Greek. She then stipulates the relatedness of literary and "folk" genres, and assesses the importance of rituals and metaphors of the life cycle in shaping narrative forms and systems of imagery.Alexiou places special emphasis on Byzantine literary texts of the sixth and twelfth centuries, providing her own translations where necessary; modern poetry and prose of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and narrative songs and tales in the folk tradition, which she analyzes alongside songs of the life cycle. She devotes particular attention to two genres whose significance she thinks has been much underrated: the tales (paramythia) and the songs of love and marriage.In exploring the relationship between speech and ritual, Alexiou not only takes the Greek language into account but also invokes the neurological disorder of autism, drawing on clinical studies and her own experience as the mother of autistic identical twin sons. |
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Burimi wshtw autoritativ pwr trajtimin e kwsaj balade dhe lidhjet e saj me antikitetin grek.
Contents
19 | |
43 | |
66 | |
New Departures in the Twelfth Century | 96 |
The Diversity of Mythical Genres | 151 |
Myth in Song | 172 |
Magic Cycles in the Wondertales | 211 |
Metanarrative and Paranarrative | 231 |
Ritual and Reciprocity | 328 |
Separation Transition and Integration | 332 |
Resources of the Past | 345 |
Metaphors in Songs of the Life Cycle | 349 |
Journey | 352 |
Clothes and Gems | 361 |
Hair | 372 |
The Garden of Love | 374 |
The Interpenetration of Themes and Images | 235 |
Cyclical Images of Body and Cosmos | 249 |
Cosmology and Morality | 253 |
The Tree of Life and the Cosmic Cycle | 260 |
Concluding Comments | 262 |
From Myth to Fiction | 266 |
The Greek Novel c 18301880 | 267 |
The Case of Georgios Vizyenos | 275 |
Ethnicity and Sanity | 277 |
Antithesis as a Strategy of ReadingWriting | 286 |
Between Time and Place | 296 |
After Vizyenos | 310 |
The Resources of Ritual | 317 |
Everyday Life | 319 |
Autistic Rituals | 325 |
Hunting and Hunted | 377 |
Burning and Withering | 381 |
Tears and Poison Blood and Water | 384 |
Plants and Fruits of the Earth | 389 |
Hunting Birds | 396 |
The Tree of Love and Life | 399 |
Backward to the Present | 411 |
Notes | 453 |
I | 465 |
43 | 471 |
Key to References to Songs and Tales | 503 |
General Index | 547 |
Index of Themes and Images | 563 |