Racing and gendering classical mythology in the incarcerated classroom

Author(s):  
Elena Dugan ◽  
Mathura Umachandran
Keyword(s):  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-268
Author(s):  
Leo Mellor

This article traces the complex and potent role of classical mythology in the poet George Barker's work of the 1930s. Noting Geoffrey Grigson's rage about ‘narcissism’ when reviewing Barker in 1935 it shows why this barb was more perceptive and apposite – in acknowledging an obsession with both a figure and an overtly classical precedent – than the acclamation given to Barker at the time, from T. S. Eliot among others. Central to the article is an exploration of Barker's heterodox version of a common modernist urge: encountering and reworking of fractured myths. For the radical and ever-present notions of uncertainty with which classical tales and Gods are treated in Barker's work is also revelatory of the autodidactic process – incomplete, unstable, and without class-annotated cultural authority – by which he gained such knowledge. The article thus situates Barker within a cultural matrix, and draws renewed attention to the pluralities of poetry within 1930s Britain.


Author(s):  
Sheila Murnaghan ◽  
Deborah H. Roberts

The preceding work is summed up as a study of adults’ attempts over a century-long period to make sense of their own childhood experiences of antiquity and to recreate those experiences for new generations through the medium of absorbing pleasure reading. Such experiences are valued for their capacity to stimulate the imagination, to expand moral understanding, to pave the way for further education, and to bring renewal or redemption to the disturbed modern world. The chapter ends with a brief survey of developments in classical mythology and historical fiction for children and young adults from the mid-1960s until the present, including the emergence of new forms of fantasy literature and the role of new media such as video games and fan fiction.


Author(s):  
Silvio Bär

This article is intended for students and teachers of classical mythology. It gives an overview of the nature and the characteristics of the gods in Greek and Roman mythology, explaining what the Greek and Roman gods are and what they are not. Furthermore, the relationship between gods and humans in classical mythology is discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2021) ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Raúl Marrero-Fente

This work examines the construction of an etiology or fable of origins by Silvestre de Balboa in Espejo de paciencia (1608). From the use of classical mythology, Balboa assigns a new symbolic value to Cuban nature that allows us to see the landscape based on an insular autochthonous feeling, marking the difference with the European landscape.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies ◽  
Roumaissa Moussaoui

The sterility of twentieth century society fostered nostalgia for the values of the past and a renewed interest in classical mythology. For D. H. Lawrence (1885 –1930), myth became one of the most important elements in both his fictional and non fictional works. Taking well-known examples, he reinterpreted them as an illustration of his own personal vision. This article is limited to a study of three major fictional works: The Rainbow, Women in Love and The Virgin and The Gypsy and attempts to analyse them in the light of the Genesis myth. It hinges on the hypothesis that Lawrence, by condemning orthodox religious beliefs, formulated his own creation myth: his regenesis. He attempted to expose the false ideals of conventional society, which had for centuries destroyed man’s natural intuition, by a re-examination of the Genesis myth. By using an analytical approach, this article aims to answer several provocative questions. Firstly, how far did Lawrence succeed in undermining conventional authority? Secondly, how successful was he in formulating his philosophy of regenesis? Thirdly, to what extent can this philosophy be seen as an answer to the problems of the age?


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-193
Author(s):  
Kirk Essary

Abstract The purpose of this essay is to evaluate the manner in which Erasmus employs examples from and the genres of classical mythology in order to explain the emotions, but also to show how he utilizes affective meanings of myths to describe current events. Given Erasmus’ influence, and the burgeoning field of emotions history, my aim is to interject Erasmus more fully into the ongoing conversation about the ways in which emotions were understood in the past. I will do so by considering 1) his adaptation of Quintilian’s taxonomy of emotions as either tragic or comic; 2) his use of classical literature to explore and explain the emotions; and 3) his affective analysis of what he deems the “tragedy” of Martin Luther’s reform movement.


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