This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1991.

This book investigates the concept of what it means to be 'epic' and its form in American life, literature, and art from the country's early days.

William Allan's Very Short Introduction provides a concise and lively guide to the major authors, genres, and periods of classical literature. Drawing upon a wealth of material, he reveals just what makes the 'classics' such masterpieces and why they continue to influence and fascinate today.

With contributions from leading scholars, this is a uniquecross-cultural comparison of historical epics across a wide rangeof cultures and time periods, which presents crucial insights intohow history is treated in narrative poetry. The first book to gain new insights into the topic of‘epic and history’ through in-depth cross-culturalcomparisons Covers epic traditions across the globe and across a wide rangeof time periods Brings together leading specialists in the field, and is editedby two internationally regarded scholars An important reference for scholars and students interested inhistory and literature across a broad range of disciplines

#WELCOME TO EPIC: PRESS START TO PLAY#. On New Earth, Epic is not just a computer game, it's a matter of life and death. If you lose, you lose everything; if you win, the world is yours for the taking. Seeking revenge for the unjust treatment of his parents, Erik subverts the rules of the game, and he and his friends are drawn into a world of power-hungry, dangerous players. Now they must fight the ultimate masters of the game -- The Committee. But what Erik doesn't know is that The Committee has a sinister, deadly secret, and challenging it could destroy the whole world of Epic.

An Introduction to the Study of Literature sets forth, in a simple and lucid manner, the issues and questions to be kept in mind while studying the vast canon of English literature. It takes much of its substance from a series of twenty - five lectures delivered before University Extension audiences at the Municipal Technical Institute, West Ham and the Polytechnic, Woolwich. This book compresses the matter from these lectures, along with a good deal of additional information, to provide a compact and handy guide that should prove extremely useful to new students of literature as well as veterans in the subject. Comprising ways and methods to study various genres such as poetry, prose fiction, drama, essay and short story, it covers every facet of literature. It also analyses the task of critiquing literature to bring out the necessity of studying the subject. A must - read for all literature aficionados.

The Cambridge Companion to Homer is a guide to the essential aspects of Homeric criticism and scholarship, including the reception of the poems in ancient and modern times. Written by an international team of scholars, it is intended to be the first port of call for students at all levels, with introductions to important subjects and suggestions for further exploration. Alongside traditional topics like the Homeric Question, the divine apparatus of the poems, the formulae, the characters and the archaeological background, there are detailed discussions of similes, speeches, the poet as story-teller and the genre of epic both within Greece and worldwide. The reception chapters include assessments of ancient Greek and Roman readings as well as selected modern interpretations from the eighteenth century to the present day. Chapters on Homer in English translation and Homer in the history of ideas round out the collection.