ENGLISH

Forms of Astonishment: Greek Myths of Metamorphosis

By Richard Buxton

Book information

Publisher
Oxford University Press, USA
Year
2009
ISBN
0199245495, 9780199245499
LCC
BL795.M47 B88 2009
Open Library ID
OL23870259M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
4 MB (3983395 bytes)
Pages
280\298
Orientation
yes
Scanned
no
Time added
2011-04-28 18:43:47

Description

Forms of Astonishment sets out to interpret a number of Greek myths about the transformations of humans and gods. Such tales have become familiar in their Ovidian dress, as in the best-selling translation by Ted Hughes; Richard Buxton explores their Greek antecedents. One pressing question which often occurs to the reader of these tales is: Did the Greeks take them seriously? Buxton repeatedly engages with this topic, and attempts to answer it context by context and author by author. His book raises issues relevant to an understanding of broad aspects of Greek culture (e.g. how 'strange' were Greek beliefs?'); in so doing, it also illuminates issues explored by anthropologists and students of religion.

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