The Hero's Quest
Record details
- ISBN: 9781429837378
- ISBN: 1429837373
- Physical Description: 300 p. ; 23 cm.
- Publisher: Pasadena, CA : Salem Press, 2012.
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Formatted Contents Note: | CONTENTS: About this Volume -- Bernard Schweizer ; On the Hero's Quest -- Robert A. Segal / CRITICAL CONTEXTS: Theories of Myth -- Robert A. Segal ; Wolfram's Parzival Considered through a Kierkegaardian Lens -- Eric Ziolkowski / Romancing the Quest: Quest Narratives in Changing Contexts -- Jeremy M. Downes / Modernist Quests: Heart of Darkness and The Man Who Died -- Michael Bell / CRITICAL READINGS: Quests for Immortality and Identity: The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey -- Katherine C. King ; Virgil's The Aeneid and the Ambivalence of Aeneas's Heroic Quest -- Eric Sandberg ; The Hero's Quest in Beowulf -- James B. Kelley ; The Chivalric Quest: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight -- Anthony Adams ; Dante's Quest and the Sublimation of Heroic Combat in The Divine Comedy -- Matthew Bolton ; The Bildungsroman as Quest Narrative: Great Expectations and Jane Eyre -- Victoria Williams ; Varied and Conflicting Quests in Melville's Moby-Dick: The Nine "Gams" -- Robert C. Evans ; One for all: The Fantasy Quest in The Hobbit, The Wizard of Oz, and His Dark Materials -- Stephen W. Potts ; Chatwin's Postmodern Quest: In Patagonia -- Simon Cooke / RESOURCES: Additional Works on the Hero's Quest ; Bibliography ; About the Volume Editors ; Contributors ; Index. |
Target Audience Note: | 10-A. |
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Subject: | Heroes in literature |
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Summary
The Hero's Quest
Great starting point for students seeking an introduction to the theme and the critical discussions surrounding it. Odysseus, Gilgamesh, Aneas, even The Lord of the Rings' Frodo-their stories thrill us with their adventure and classic quest themes. Throughout their journeys, they discover amazing new lands, strange and captivating people and beasts, and even, sometimes, a deeper understanding of themselves. Perhaps because of their excitement and clear progression towards a greater good, stories of a hero's quest remain as compelling and classic today as they were in ancient times. Edited by Bernard Schweizer, Associate Professor of English at Long Island University, and Robert Segal, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen, this volume in the Critical Insights series addresses the theme of the hero's quest in literature through a diverse set of texts and through multiple methodologies. For readers who are studying the themes for the first time, a four essays survey the critical conversation regarding the theme, explore its cultural and historical contexts, and offer close and comparative readings of key texts containing the theme. Readers seeking a deeper understanding of the theme can then move on to other essays that explore it in depth through a variety of critical approaches. Works discussed include The Odyssey, The Aeneid, The Inferno, Gulliver's Travels, Tom Jones, Moby Dick, His Dark Materials, and Surfacing. Rounding out the volume are a list of literary works not mentioned in the book that concern the themes of nature and the environment as well as a bibliography of critical sources for readers seeking to study these timeless themes in greater depth.