1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910816419203321

Autore

Lovatt Helen <1974->

Titolo

The epic gaze : vision, gender and narrative in ancient epic / / Helen Lovatt

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge ; ; New York, : Cambridge University Press, c2013

ISBN

1-139-89069-7

1-107-27182-7

1-139-06008-2

1-107-27514-8

1-107-27391-9

1-107-27840-6

1-107-27717-5

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (x, 414 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Disciplina

881.009

Soggetti

Epic poetry, Greek - History and criticism

Greek poetry - History and criticism

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

The divine gaze -- The mortal gaze -- The prophetic gaze -- Ecphrasis and the other -- The female gaze -- Heroic bodies on display -- The assaultive gaze -- Fixing it for good : Medusa and monumentality.

Sommario/riassunto

The epic genre has at its heart a fascination with the horror of viewing death. Epic heroes have active visual power, yet become objects, turned into monuments, watched by two main audiences: the gods above and the women on the sidelines. This stimulating, ambitious study investigates the theme of vision in Greek and Latin epic from Homer to Nonnus, bringing the edges of epic into dialogue with celebrated moments (the visual confrontation of Hector and Achilles, the failure of Turnus' gaze), revealing epic as massive assertion of authority and fractured representation. Helen Lovatt demonstrates the complexity of epic constructions of gender: from Apollonius' Medea toppling Talos with her eyes to Parthenopaeus as object of desire. She discusses mortals appropriating the divine gaze, prophets as both penetrative viewers and rape victims, explores the divine authority of epic



ecphrasis, and exposes the way that heroic bodies are fragmented and fetishised.