Homeric Stitchings: The Homeric Centos of the Empress Eudocia

by M. D. Usher

Overview

Homeric Stitchings is the first extended study of the Homeric Centos, a long pastiche poem on a biblical theme composed by the Theodosian Empress Eudocia using only verses from the Iliad and the Odyssey. Building upon recent work on Homeric poetics, and utilizing linguistic and semiotic methods of analysis, this study introduces readers to the Centos as a sophisticated comparative reading of Homer and the Bible, based upon intertextual associations of ideas, words, and sounds. Homeric Stitchings is a study in the performative aspects of ancient reading, the processes of human memory, and the reception of Homeric poetry as oral poetry in later antiquity. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of Homer, the Bible and comparative literature, and cultural historians.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780847689996
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	06/11/1998
Series:	Greek Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.36(w) x 9.24(h) x 0.78(d)

About the Author

M. D. Usher is assistant professor of classics at University of Vermont, and the editor of Homerocentones Eudociae Augustae (Teubner).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Foreword Chapter 2 Acknowledgements Chapter 3 Note on Citation Style Chapter 4 Introduction Part 5 Part I. Cento Contexts Chapter 6 Understanding the Homeric Centos Chapter 7 Eudocia Augusta: Reader-Rhapsode Part 8 Part II. Cento Poetrics Chapter 9 Accomodations Chapter 10 Enjambement Part 11 Part III. Cento Semiotics and Aesthethics Chapter 12 Themes and Intertextuality Chapter 13 Composition by Theme Chapter 14 Themes from the Odyssey Chapter 15 Themes from the Iliad Chapter 16 References Chapter 17 Index

Editorial Reviews

Usher argued his case well and enthusiastically, and in making Eudocia's work readily available and known , he has laid the foundation for its interpretation.

Phoenix

U.'s book sets Eudocia in an entirely fresh light, as direct descendant of the Homeric rhapsodes.

Classical Review

Usher argued his case well and enthusiastically, and in making Eudocia's work readily available and known , he has laid the foundation for its interpretation.

Phoenix

U.'s book sets Eudocia in an entirely fresh light, as direct descendant of the Homeric rhapsodes.

The Classical Review

Usher argued his case well and enthusiastically, and in making Eudocia's work readily available and known , he has laid the foundation for its interpretation.

Phoenix Rina