Epic

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This student guidebook offers a clear introduction to an often complex and unwieldy area of literary studies. Tracing epic from its ancient and classical roots through postmodern and contemporary examples this volume discusses:

Offering new directions for the future and addressing the place of epic in both English-language texts and World Literature, this handy book takes you on a fascinating guided tour through the epic.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Series editor's preface (p. ix)
• Acknowledgements (p. x)
• 1 Epic literary history (p. 1)
• Ancient and classical epic (p. 3)
• From the heroic towards romance and allegory (p. 12)
• The Renaissance and the early novel (p. 15)
• Epic in the age of the individual (p. 18)
• 2 Ancient and classical epic (p. 25)
• Sumerian and Akkadian epic (p. 26)
• The Bible (p. 29)
• Greek epic (p. 31)
• Latin epic (p. 41)
• The Sanskrit epics (p. 55)
• 3 From the heroic towards romance and allegory (p. 66)
• The Shah-Namah (p. 67)
• Heroic epic and saga (p. 74)
• The Celts: tales from Ireland and Wales (p. 85)
• Epic and the Chansons de Geste (p. 90)
• Epic and romance (p. 94)
• Epic and allegory (p. 100)
• 4 The Renaissance and the early novel (p. 108)
• Three Italians and two Englishmen (p. 109)
• The Lusiads (p. 121)
• Milton (p. 124)
• The early novel (p. 127)
• 5 Epic in the age of the individual (p. 134)
• Poetry (p. 135)
• Epic and the novel (p. 141)
• From Modernism to Post-Modernism (p. 146)
• Contemporary (p. 157)
• Glossary (p. 160)
• Bibliography (p. 163)
• Index (p. 171)