| The Authoress of the Odyssey Revised Edition Contributor(s): Butler, Samuel (Author), Whitmarsh, Timothy (Introduction by) |
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ISBN: 1904675018 ISBN-13: 9781904675013 Publisher: Liverpool University Press OUR PRICE: $48.96 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: August 2004 * Not available - Not in print at this time *Annotation: Samuel Butler, scholar, painter, pioneer photographer and novelist (author of Erewhon and The Way of All Flesh) was one of the less orthodox of Victorian intellectual provocateurs, who confronted powerful orthodoxies such as the Church, the academic establishment, and scientific Darwinism. During the last decade of his productive life his main concern became the 'Homeric question'. In his youth he had been a classical scholar at Cambridge; but this work of 1897 is unlike any work of mainstream Victorian classicism. His theory - that the Odyssey was written by a woman and (even more startlingly) by one who configured herself in the epic as the Phaeacian princess, Nausicaa - set him on collision course with all the 'authordoxies' of the stuffy, patriarchal establishment of 'Oxbridge' scholarship. His exposition hesitates in a grey area between closely reasoned argument, eccentric tomfoolery and knowing polemicism. The establishment never could determine whether to take it seriously or as an elaborate spoof of their own methodologies. Certainly, Butler himself never let on what his intentions were. Now, in an age when gender studies and reception theory have a compelling influence on readings of the classical world, it is appropriate to make this book available again. The issues involved are examined by Whitmarsh in a totally new introduction. Butler's work continues to challenge provoke and amuse. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Gender Studies - Literary Criticism | Ancient And Classical - Literary Collections | Ancient, Classical & Medieval |
| Dewey: 883.01 |
| LCCN: 2005360281 |
| Series: Ignibus Paperbacks |
| Physical Information: 0.9" H x 5.68" W x 8.46" (1.02 lbs) 316 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - Ancient (To 499 A.D.) |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Samuel Butler, scholar, painter, pioneer photographer, and novelist (including 'Erewhon' and 'The Way of All Flesh'), was one of the less orthodox of Victorian intellectual provocateurs, who confronted powerful orthodoxies such as the Church, the academic establishment, and scientific Darwinism. During the last decade of his productive life (he died in 1902), his main concern became the 'Homeric question'. In his youth, he had been a classical scholar at St John's College, Cambridge; but 'The Authoress of the Odyssey' [1897] is unlike any work of mainstream Victorian classics. His theory - that the Odyssey was written by a woman and (even more startlingly) by one who configured herself in the epic as the Phaeacian princess, Nausicaa - set him on collision course with all the 'orthodoxies' of the stuffy, patriarchal establishment of 'Oxbridge' scholarship. His exposition hesitates (brilliantly, or accidentally?) in the grey area between closely reasoned argument, eccentric tomfoolery and knowing pole |