Homeric Motivation and Modern Narratology: The Case of Penelope

Grethlein, Jonas

doi:10.1017/s1750270517000136

Camb. class. j.

2018

DOI: 10.1017/s1750270517000136

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Homeric Motivation and Modern Narratology: The Case of Penelope

Jonas Grethlein

Abstract: Forged mostly in readings of the modern novel, the tools of narratology have allowed us to detect many features that ancient literature shares with modern texts. At the same time, they have detracted from crucial differences between ancient and modern narratives. This article argues that, while being at the origin of the classical western plot, the Odyssey also features a narrative logic that differs significantly from what the modern novel has taught us to expect. It focuses on the case of Penelope. Various t… Show more

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Cited by 3 publications

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Odysseus, Emotional Intelligence, and the Plot of the Odyssey

Minchin

2019

Mnemosyne

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It is well recognized amongst psychologists that individuals exhibit not one but multiple intelligences (Gardner 1993). Perhaps the most conspicuous of these, especially in interpersonal contexts, is emotional intelligence: that ability to understand and predict one’s own emotions, and those of others, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and behaviour (Mayer, Salovey and Caruso 2008). Although the Odyssean Odysseus is known for his ability to think his way out of difficult situations, his problem-solving ability is not his only distinguishing cognitive attribute. This paper begins with a brief discussion of emotional intelligence and its scope. I then observe how the poet, through his narrative, reveals this ability in Odysseus: his emotional intelligence serves the hero well in some social situations but (as happens to us all) fails him in others. I shall argue, with reference to a number of examples, that the poet has an implicit understanding of emotional intelligence; that he uses his hero’s uneven performance with respect to this ability as a motivating factor in his development of the plot; and that this attribute of Odysseus, along with his craftiness, is what makes this character—and ultimately this story—so engaging.

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Odysseus, Emotional Intelligence, and the Plot of the Odyssey

Minchin

2019

Mnemosyne

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More than Minds: Experience, Narrative, and Plot

Grethlein¹

2018

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The concept of experience did not fare well during most of the second half of the twentieth century. Poststructuralists condemned experience as belonging to metaphysics; the advocates of Critical Theory scented ideology behind it; and analytical philosophers were too busy concocting impervious definitions to care about experience. 2 By the end of the century, however, the scene had changed significantly, and the idea of experience was fully rehabilitated in academic research. Together with such ideas as presence or materiality, experience was marshalled to overcome the linguistic turn (e.g. Pickering 1997; Mersch 2002; Gumbrecht 2004; Ankersmit 2005; Runia 2006). Perhaps most importantly, experience caters to the current desire to strip down the walls of constructivism and to break free from the prison-house of language. It opens up phenomenological perspectives and resonates powerfully with the current upsurge of cognitive studies. Narrative theory has not remained unaffected by this broad trend to resuscitate the idea of experience. A pioneer in the attempt to place experience center-stage has been Monika Fludernik in her Towards a 'Natural' Narratology, published in 1996. Against traditional approaches, which consider plot to be the key of narrative, Fludernik argued that narrativity is constituted by experientiality, that is, "the quasi-mimetic evocation of 'real-life experience'" (9): "In my model there can therefore be narratives without plot, but there cannot be narratives without a human experience of some sort at some narrative level" (13). 3 The notion of experience enabled Fludernik to make a move that has profoundly changed how many of us understand narrative: a shift from formalist to cognitive approaches. Pivotal as the idea of experience is in natural narratology, its significance for narrative has, I think, not yet been fully charted out. In fact, a fresh look at the tradition of continental philosophy can show us that experience need not be pitted against plot. The history of narratology makes it obvious why Fludernik emphasized that experience can center on "mental simulations," that it can be, as she puts it, "quite uneventful" (29). Eager to move away from formalist approaches, Fludernik replaced the focus on plot with a focus on 1 I wish to thank John Pier for his comments and suggestions.

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Recepção dos clássicos em Machado de Assis

Monteiro

2020

Nunt. Antiquus

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O presente artigo se propõe a analisar o diálogo entre a obra de Machado de Assis e os poemas de Homero, mais especificamente os ecos das personagens Helena e Penélope detectados na construção de Capitu, do romance Dom Casmurro. (In)fidelidade, natureza ambígua e condição liminar definem as três personagens. Entretanto, Capitu, ao contrário das personagens homéricas, não pertence a um enredo que apresenta a resolução de sua liminaridade. Um dos motivos para isto, segundo o que se pretende argumentar neste artigo, é a complexa combinação das heroínas homéricas cuja memória pode ser rastreada na construção de Capitu, que revela uma mistura de elementos delas característicos, como a dissimulação e a sedução.

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Homeric Motivation and Modern Narratology: The Case of Penelope

Cited by 3 publications

References 30 publications

Odysseus, Emotional Intelligence, and the Plot of the Odyssey

Odysseus, Emotional Intelligence, and the Plot of the Odyssey

More than Minds: Experience, Narrative, and Plot

Recepção dos clássicos em Machado de Assis

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