Joyce Carol Oates’s Carthage as a Modern Troilus and Cressida Story

Both Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde and Joyce Carol Oates’s Carthage are set in times of war, the Trojan War and the Iraq War, respectively, and both are associated with love on the one hand, and loss on the other. In fact, Carthage contains many echoes of the past, with the main characters of the novel, Juliet and Cressida Mayfield, bringing connotations with Chaucer’s and Shakespeare’s works, their father compared to an old Roman general, and Corporal Brett Kincaid likened to the hero of chivalric romances. The aim of this article is to argue that Oates’s Carthage may be seen as a modern Troilus and Cressida story in that it presents aspects of medieval reality in a modern guise, with the most poignant and recurrent association being that between the “war on terror” and medieval crusades and the emotion dominating the characters’ reactions being rage, an emotion which occurs in relation to the fires of passion and war in Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, and Joyce Carol Oates’s Carthage.

POSTMODERN POETICS OF M. ATWOOD’S NOVEL “PENELOPIADА”

Margaret Atwood is one of the most famous modern English-language writers. She has won numerous literary awards, including the Booker Prize twice. Her novel “Penelopiada” (2005) did not attract the attention of researchers. Therefore, the purpose of this article is a detailed analysis of the main features of the poetics of the novel as a model of postmodern prose. The source of inspiration for the writer were the ancient myths and heroic poems “Iliada” and “Odyssey” by Homer. In ancient texts, Penelope is a minor heroine. She was the wife of Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, who fought for ten years under the walls of Troy, and then travelled for another ten years. And all this time his wife has been waiting for him, so Penelope is a symbol of marital fidelity and patience. Canadian author Margaret Atwood rethinks this image. Without disturbing the plot of the ancient epic, she psychologically motivates the actions of Penelope, shows the image of a lonely strong woman who is trying to survive in a cruel male world. This text reflects the feminist views of the author. The article focuses on aspects of intertextuality, allusions, and creative dialogue with prototexts. The figurative structure of the novel, the semantic overemphasis of the images of Odysseus, Penelope and Elena, who fled to Troy, are analysed. The events of the Trojan War are considered from the point of view of a woman who was not directly affected by the hostilities, but whose life changed radically. Genre-compositional features of the novel are revealed. The originality of the narrative in the novel is clarified: the story is told on behalf of Penelope, which adds psychological credibility to the image. The article also notes the techniques of irony, parody, which represent the text as a model of postmodernism.

Motyw winy Heleny w tradycji epickiej i w dyskursie

The paper takes up the issue of Helen’s guilt for the outbreak of the Trojan war present in the Iliad and in the oral epic tradition. It puts forward a thesis that in order to blame others or to free themselves from blame epic heroes employ the typical in oral culture technique of conducting disputes. Like other characters in the Iliad, Helen, is also under constant social pressure which seeks to find her guilty and, in effect, to activate a mechanism of making a scapegoat of her. To defend herself, she risks self-accusations in order to make it impossible for other people to bring a charge against her. Helen cares about her good opinion in the Trojan society and particularly in the circle of women.

Rewriting Homer: Dictys, Septimius and the (Re-)shaping of the Trojan War Material

The present paper deals with variation in and (re-)use of ancient sources, chiefly epics, in the fictional chronicle of the Trojan War composed by ‘Dictys of Crete’ and its Latin adaptation, the Ephemeris belli Troiani, by a certain L. Septimius, both dating to the Roman Empire. I discuss how the authors of these texts used inconsistencies in the literary tradition and their own invention to characterise the heroes of the Trojan War in ways that ‘correct’ Homer and allow insertion of adventure and ‘romance’.

Blessings for the sailors. The cult of the Great Gods of Samothrace in the Mediterranean context between the Hellenistic and Roman Ages

The aim of this paper is to underline some cultic features of the cult of the Great Gods of Samothrace, in its development between Hellenistic and Roman Age. In this regard, we analyze the mythological background of this cult, with particular reference to Trojan war and Aeneas saga and the influences on the cultic performances and ideology in Roman age. Our main goal is to show, through an analysis of the different syncretic cults (Dioskuroi, Penates, Lares) and the archaeological data, how the metaphors of sea and sailing influenced the transmission of this soteriological cult in Rome and how these cultural changes represent a weighty argument to demonstrate the very important revolution introduced by the Samothracian cult in the religious thought of classical world.

Визуализация сюжетов об обучении и воспитании Aхиллеса в Греции VI-V вв. до н.э.

In addition to information about the glorious exploits of Achilles during the Trojan War, the tradition has preserved numerous sources telling about peculiarities of his growing up. Educational programs, which were developed for the young Achilles by his mentors Chiron and Phoenix, form the basis for the formation of the Homeric hero, not alien to the ancient Greek pedagogy of the VI-V century B.C. Plots about the peculiarities of training and education of Achilles, present on ceramics from the VI-V centuries B.C. are considered to be visual markers of the history of ancient Greek education. Achilles is an idealized image of the hero, which captures the features of the pedagogical tradition of Homeric time. The two mentors of Achilles make it possible to trace the phenomenon of educational continuity in the ancient pedagogical tradition.

The Destruction of Cities in the Ancient Greek World

From the Trojan War to the sack of Rome, from the fall of Constantinople to the bombings of World War II and the recent devastation of Syrian towns, the destruction of cities and the slaughter of civilian populations are among the most dramatic events in world history. But how reliable are literary sources for these events? Did ancient authors exaggerate the scale of destruction to create sensational narratives? This volume reassesses the impact of physical destruction on ancient Greek cities and its demographic and economic implications. Addressing methodological issues of interpreting the archaeological evidence for destructions, the volume examines the evidence for the destruction, survival, and recovery of Greek cities. The studies, written by an international group of specialists in archaeology, ancient history, and numismatic, range from Sicily to Asia Minor and Aegean Thrace, and include Athens, Corinth, and Eretria. They highlight the resilience of ancient populations and the recovery of cities in the long term.