Modernism and Homer: The Odysseys of H.D., James Joyce, Osip Mandelstam, and Ezra Pound (Classics after Antiquity)

"This comparative study crosses multiple cultures, traditions, genres, and languages in order to explore the particular importance of Homer in the emergence, development, and promotion of modernist writing. It shows how and why the Homeric epics served both modernist formal experimentation, including Pound's poetics of the fragment and Joyce's sprawling epic novel, and sociopolitical critiques, including H.D.'s analyses of the cultural origins of twentieth-century wars and Mandelstam's poetic defiance of the totalitarian Stalinist regime. The book counters a long critical tradition that has recruited Homer to consolidate, champion and, more recently, chastise an elitist, masculine modernist canon. Departing from the tradition of reading these texts in isolation as mythic engagements with the Homeric epics, Leah Flack argues that ongoing dialogues with Homer helped these writers to mount their distinct visions of a cosmopolitan post-war culture that would include them as artists working on the margins of the Western literary tradition"-- Provided by publisher FM......Page 1 Contents......Page 5 Series editors’ preface......Page 7 Acknowledgements......Page 11 Abbreviations of frequently cited texts......Page 14 Introduction - Making Homer new......Page 17 1. “To have gathered from the air a live tradition”......Page 39 2. “The reading of Homer was transformed into a fabulous event”......Page 73 3. “Damn Homer, Ulysses, Bloom, and all the rest”......Page 109 4. “ACTUALITY gets in front of Olympus”......Page 139 5. “What song is left to sing? All song is sung”......Page 174 Conclusion......Page 208 Appendix: Russian text of Osip Mandelstam’s poems......Page 219 Bibliography......Page 224 Index......Page 236 Machine generated contents note: Introduction: making Homer new; Part I. High Modernism and Homer: 1. 'To have gathered from the air a live tradition': Pound, Homer, modernism; 2. 'The reading of Homer was transformed into a fabulous event': defiance and delirium in Mandelstam's Russian Odyssey; 3. 'Damn Homer, Ulysses, Bloom and all the rest': 'Cyclops, ' disorder, and myth; Part II. Late Modernism and Homer: 4. 'ACTUALITY gets in front of Olympus': Pound's late visions and revisions of Homer; 5. 'What song is left to sing? All song is sung': H.D., Homer, modernism; Conclusion; Appendix: Russian text of Mandelstam's poems This book explores the surprising versatility of Homer's epics of wandering and homecoming for the radical formal experiments and changing sociopolitical agendas of modernist writers responding to war, tyranny, censorship, and empire. Of interest to students and researchers interested in classical receptions, modernism, twentieth-century literature, and comparative literature. A Comparative Study Exploring The Particular Importance Of Homer In The Emergence, Development, And Promotion Of Modernist Writing.