Metaliterary Katabasis in the Writings of Eavan Boland, Derek Walcott and Gloria Naylor
The Poet and the Underworld
Seiten
2026
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
978-1-350-53601-2 (ISBN)
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
978-1-350-53601-2 (ISBN)
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This book examines how twentieth-century anglophone authors use katabasis to express poetics and position themselves in the western literary canon.
Focusing on the ancient motif of the descent into the underworld (katabasis), this book examines how three twentieth-century writers – Eavan Boland, Gloria Naylor and Derek Walcott – articulate their poetics and assert their place within the Western literary canon by means of receptions of this motif from Greco-Roman literature. This study examines three key texts published between 1985 and 1990, exploring how these writers – an Irish poet, an African-American novelist and a Caribbean poet – employ the allegorical motif of katabasis as a metaliterary instrument. Each text is analysed for its receptions of katabasis and its implications for the literary identities of these three authors.
Amaranth Feuth also situates these texts within the broader context of each author’s oeuvre, providing fresh, in-depth analyses of related texts. Utilising the methodological framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and transgeneric narratology, this study compares the deployment of katabasis across different genres and cultural backgrounds. In this way, it demonstrates how Boland, Naylor and Walcott use the katabasis motif to challenge and redefine their roles within Western literature. This comparative approach reveals how contemporary literature reimagines classical themes to address and expand literary boundaries, while also offering a nuanced exploration of how these authors situate themselves in the history of Western – and world – literature.
Focusing on the ancient motif of the descent into the underworld (katabasis), this book examines how three twentieth-century writers – Eavan Boland, Gloria Naylor and Derek Walcott – articulate their poetics and assert their place within the Western literary canon by means of receptions of this motif from Greco-Roman literature. This study examines three key texts published between 1985 and 1990, exploring how these writers – an Irish poet, an African-American novelist and a Caribbean poet – employ the allegorical motif of katabasis as a metaliterary instrument. Each text is analysed for its receptions of katabasis and its implications for the literary identities of these three authors.
Amaranth Feuth also situates these texts within the broader context of each author’s oeuvre, providing fresh, in-depth analyses of related texts. Utilising the methodological framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and transgeneric narratology, this study compares the deployment of katabasis across different genres and cultural backgrounds. In this way, it demonstrates how Boland, Naylor and Walcott use the katabasis motif to challenge and redefine their roles within Western literature. This comparative approach reveals how contemporary literature reimagines classical themes to address and expand literary boundaries, while also offering a nuanced exploration of how these authors situate themselves in the history of Western – and world – literature.
Amaranth Feuth is a classicist and Anglicist, working as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS), Leiden University, the Netherlands. She specialises in the study of classical receptions in contemporary English-language literature.
Introduction
1. Writing in the Shadows: Katabasis in the Poetry of Eavan Boland
2. Turning the Tide: Katabasis and Poetics in Derek Walcott's Omeros
3. The Masculine Element in a Union of Opposites: The Descent of the Poet in Gloria Naylor's Linden Hills
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 11.6.2026 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Bloomsbury Studies in Classical Reception |
| Zusatzinfo | 4 bw illus |
| Verlagsort | London |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 156 x 234 mm |
| Themenwelt | Literatur ► Klassiker / Moderne Klassiker |
| Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-350-53601-6 / 1350536016 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-350-53601-2 / 9781350536012 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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