Overview

In Reciprocity, Truth, and Gender in Pindar and Aeschylus, author Arum Park explores the notoriously difficult ancient Greek poetry of Aeschylus and Pindar and seeks to articulate the complex relationship between them. Although Pindar and Aeschylus were contemporaries, previous scholarship has often treated Pindar and Aeschylus as representatives of contrasting worldviews. Park’s comparative study offers the alternative perspective of understanding them as complements instead. By examining these poets together through the concepts of reciprocity, truth, and gender, this book establishes a relationship between Pindar and Aeschylus that challenges previous conceptions of their dissimilarity. The book accomplishes three aims: first, it establishes that Pindar and Aeschylus frame their poetry using similar principles of reciprocity; second, it demonstrates that each poet depicts truth in a way that is specific to those reciprocity principles; and finally, it illustrates how their depictions of gender are shaped by this intertwining of truth and reciprocity. By demonstrating their complementarity, the book situates Pindar and Aeschylus in the same poetic ecosystem, which has implications for how we understand ancient Greek poetry more broadly: using Pindar and Aeschylus as case studies, the book provides a window into their dynamic and interactive poetic world, a world in which ostensibly dissimilar poets and genres actually have much more in common than we might think.

Full Product Details

Author:   Arum Park
Publisher:   The University of Michigan Press
Imprint:   The University of Michigan Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.70cm , Height: 2.20cm , Length: 23.10cm
Weight:   0.440kg
ISBN:  

9780472133420

ISBN 10:   047213342
Pages:   254
Publication Date:   30 May 2023
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock  
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Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PROLOGUE: CONTEXTS FOR COMPLEMENTARITY The Structure of the Book CHAPTER ONE: RECIPROCITY AND TRUTH IN PINDAR AND AESCHYLUS Reciprocity Reciprocity and Truth in Pindaric Epinician Poetry and Reciprocity in Pindar Alētheia and Poetic Reciprocity Truth Personified: Fragment 205 and Olympian 10 Reciprocity, Revenge, and Truth in Aeschylus The Language of Reciprocity in Aeschylus Reciprocity and Truth? The Danaids’ Ode to Zeus Truth as “What Happens” Truth in Untruth: Clytemnestra The Truth of Reciprocity Conclusion CHAPTER TWO: THE TRUTH OF RECIPROCITY IN PINDAR’S MYTHS Olympian 10: Truth, Obligation, and Reciprocity Truth, Praise, and Poetic Obligation in Olympian 1 Parity, Reality, and Poetry: Nemean 7 Conclusion CHAPTER THREE: GENDER, RECIPROCITY, AND TRUTH IN PINDAR The Significance of Gender The Hera-Cloud of Pythian 2 The Active-Passive Paradox: Feminizing Male Deception The Hera-Cloud’s Ancestors and Epinician Poetry Coronis in Pythian 3: Alētheia, Myth, And Poetry Coronis and Poetry Hippolyta in Nemean 5: Seduction, Deception, Poetry Male Seduction Aegisthus and Clytemnestra in Pythian 11 Jason and Medea in Pythian 4 Conclusion CHAPTER FOUR: WOMEN KNOW BEST: AESCHYLUS’ SEVEN AGAINST THEBES Eteocles’ Attempt at Narrative Control The Chorus’ Messengers Etumos and Alēthēs Sight, Sound, and Interpretation Danaus as Comparison The Shields: Partial Visions And Truths Tydeus Capaneus and Eteoclus Hippomedon and Parthenopaeus Amphiaraus Polyneices: Symmetry and Repetition The Chorus and the Continuity of Reciprocity Alēthēs Conclusion CHAPTER FIVE: FEMALE AUTHORSHIP: FORGING TRUTH IN AESCHYLUS’ SUPPLIANTS Truth and Time Truth and Dikē The Danaids as Autobiographers The Danaids and Pelasgus: Forging Collaboration The Limits of Female Narrative Control Conclusion CHAPTER SIX: TRUTH, GENDER, AND REVENGE IN AESCHYLUS’ ORESTEIA Clytemnestra and the Herald: Different Sources of Truth Gendered Truths: Etumos and Alēthēs Cassandra: Truth in Prophecy Cassandra as Mirror: Time, Truth, Reciprocity Female Truth and Tragedy Aegisthus: Revenge without Truth The Evolution of Reciprocity and Truth in Choephori and Eumenides Conclusion EPILOGUE BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reviews

“This book is persuasive, engaging, and thought-provoking. Park’s arguments and interpretations are compelling . . . I very much hope the book will generate conversation and further engagement with the issues it raises and will lead to more classicists looking at Pindar and Aeschylus side by side.”—Louise Pratt, Emory University “This study is unique both in its thematic breadth and in its generic scope. It offers new insights into the construction of gender in Greek literature by exploring in detail how gender informs the performance and the perception of truth and lies in epinician and tragedy. It also advances our epinician poetics by examining the intersection of truth and reciprocity between poet and patron, but also by exposing Pindar’s treatment of female desire and seduction as inherently threatening to male-dominated reciprocal relationships.”—Zoe Stamatopoulou, Washington University in St. Louis

"""This book is persuasive, engaging, and thought-provoking. Park's arguments and interpretations are compelling . . . I very much hope the book will generate conversation and further engagement with the issues it raises and will lead to more classicists looking at Pindar and Aeschylus side by side."" --Louise Pratt, Emory University--Louise Pratt ""This study is unique both in its thematic breadth and in its generic scope. It offers new insights into the construction of gender in Greek literature by exploring in detail how gender informs the performance and the perception of truth and lies in epinician and tragedy. It also advances our epinician poetics by examining the intersection of truth and reciprocity between poet and patron, but also by exposing Pindar's treatment of female desire and seduction as inherently threatening to male-dominated reciprocal relationships."" --Zoe Stamatopoulou, Washington University in St. Louis--Zoe Stamatopoulou"

Author Information

Arum Park is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Arizona.

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