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Introduction
Elizabeth Minchin works at the Centre for Classical Studies, Australian National University. See recently:
“The Creation of a Storyrealm: The Role of Repetition in Homeric Epic and Oswald’s Memorial”, in D. Beck (ed.), Repetition, Communication, and Meaning in the Ancient World. Leiden, 2021, 373-392.
“Emotions, memory, and the wrath of Achilles: observations from cognitive psychology”, in G. Kazantzidis and D. Spatharas (eds), Memory and Emotions in Antiquity (Berlin, 2024).
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Publications (75)
Forward planning and rehearsal were essential to a successful oral performance of the Homeric kind. Drawing on the work of linguistic anthropologist Karin Barber, on research in cognitive psychology, and ethnographical studies, I propose that we may find in the epics good evidence for poetic preparation. I present a number of passages from the Home...
How could a poet who worked in an oral tradition maintain the momentum of his song? How could a poet such as Homer weave a tale which filled an evening or, perhaps, a whole long night? The answer lies in memory, as we have known. But this bald explanation does not do justice either to the complexity of memory or to the richness of the Homeric epics...
The publication of Milman Parry’s and, later, Albert Lord’s important work gave rise in the latter years of the 20th century to a number of questions about oral poetic composition: first, how did an oral poet prepare himself for composition in performance? second, what understanding did he, as a professional storyteller, have of memory and its func...
In this volume, literary scholars and ancient historians from across the globe investigate the creation, manipulation and representation of ancient war landscapes in literature. Landscape can spark armed conflict, dictate its progress and influence the affective experience of its participants. At the same time, warfare transforms landscapes, both p...
My investigation into the cognitive aspects of landscape description takes as its focus the landscapes that the poet evokes on the Shield of Achilles ( Il. 18.478–608). Drawing on studies in cognitive psychology I note the extent to which an audience might derive a ‘spatial mental model’ from the topographical or ‘locative’ indicators that the Home...
DIVINE SPECTATORS IN HOMER - (T.) Myers Homer's Divine Audience. The Iliad's Reception on Mount Olympus. Pp. xiv + 231, ills. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. Cased, £60, US$85. ISBN: 978-0-19-884235-4. - Elizabeth Minchin
The ancient world is a paradigm for the memory scholar. Without an awareness that collective memories are not only different from individual memories (or even the sum thereof) but also highly constructed, ancient research will be fundamentally flawed. Many networks of memories are beautifully represented in the written and material remains of antiq...
This chapter outlines the “discovery” in the twentieth century of oral traditional art, from the perspective of the Homeric epics. It notes subsequent interest in comparative studies of a vast number of oral traditions from across the globe; it draws attention to the theorizing of oral cultures and oral practices (in particular, a questioning of a...
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 thi...
This chapter explores through the lens of memory studies in a variety of fields the intimate relationship between the story of Hero and Leander and its setting on the Hellespont. It draws on research in cognitive and social psychology on the way in which features of the landscape serve as prompts for the recollection of other material, a study from...
The story of Hero and Leander has been remembered across time both on account of its powerful themes, of love and death, and
on account of its setting. Even today the story is not forgotten. The young lovers are remembered each year in a swimming
competition held on the Hellespont, near Sestos and Abydos, the towns associated with their names. This...
Alice Oswald’s, Memorial, an ‘excavation’ of the Iliad, is a response to that ancient account of the grief and pain that is inevitably the outcome of war. Oswald herself describes
the poem as an ‘oral cemetery’. Borrowing some of the most conspicuous of Homer’s traditional epic elements — his lists, biographies,
and similes — and blending paraphras...
This article takes up the subject of shared memory and its interaction with landscape, with specific reference to Troy, to Homer's Iliad, and to the tradition of 'pilgrimage' to Troy and its environs that evolved in the ancient world in response to the Trojan War story. Over the course of centuries this particular location on the Hellespont, a Bron...
I begin with a survey of relevant literature on sarcastic talk as it occurs in the anglophone world today. Having developed a `view' of sarcasm in this contemporary world, I turn to the expression of sarcasm in Homer. My examination of the spoken exchanges in the second half of the Odyssey reveals many features in common with sarcastic talk in the...
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, an...
Literature - Gottschall(J.)The Rape of Troy: Evolution, Violence, and the World of Homer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Pp. 223. £50. 9780521870382 (hbk). £17.99. 9780521690478 (pbk). - Volume 129 - Elizabeth Minchin
The Homeric Formula - Friedrich(R.)Formular Economy in Homer. The Poetics of the Breaches (Hermes Einzelschriften 100.) Pp. 159. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2007. Paper, €35. ISBN: 978-3-515-09065-0. - Volume 59 Issue 1 - Elizabeth Minchin
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, an...
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, an...
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, an...
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, an...
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, an...
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, an...
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, an...
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, an...
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, an...
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, an...
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, an...
Speech-act theory starts from the premise that the minimal unit of spoken communication is not the word or sentence but the production of words or sentences in the performance of certain kinds of acts, such as challenging, entreating, apologising, thanking, or rebuking. Some speech acts may be expressed quite economically, in a few words (for examp...
How could a poet who worked in an oral tradition maintain the momentum of his song? How could a poet such as Homer weave a tale which filled an evening or, perhaps, a whole long night? The answer lies in memory, as we have known. But this bald explanation does not do justice either to the complexity of memory or to the richness of the Homeric epics...
How could a poet who worked in an oral tradition maintain the momentum of his song? How could a poet such as Homer weave a tale which filled an evening or, perhaps, a whole long night? The answer lies in memory, as we have known. But this bald explanation does not do justice either to the complexity of memory or to the richness of the Homeric epics...
How could a poet who worked in an oral tradition maintain the momentum of his song? How could a poet such as Homer weave a tale which filled an evening or, perhaps, a whole long night? The answer lies in memory, as we have known. But this bald explanation does not do justice either to the complexity of memory or to the richness of the Homeric epics...
How could a poet who worked in an oral tradition maintain the momentum of his song? How could a poet such as Homer weave a tale which filled an evening or, perhaps, a whole long night? The answer lies in memory, as we have known. But this bald explanation does not do justice either to the complexity of memory or to the richness of the Homeric epics...
How could a poet who worked in an oral tradition maintain the momentum of his song? How could a poet such as Homer weave a tale which filled an evening or, perhaps, a whole long night? The answer lies in memory, as we have known. But this bald explanation does not do justice either to the complexity of memory or to the richness of the Homeric epics...
How could a poet who worked in an oral tradition maintain the momentum of his song? How could a poet such as Homer weave a tale which filled an evening or, perhaps, a whole long night? The answer lies in memory, as we have known. But this bald explanation does not do justice either to the complexity of memory or to the richness of the Homeric epics...
How could a poet who worked in an oral tradition maintain the momentum of his song? How could a poet such as Homer weave a tale which filled an evening or, perhaps, a whole long night? The answer lies in memory, as we have known. But this bald explanation does not do justice either to the complexity of memory or to the richness of the Homeric epics...
How could a poet who worked in an oral tradition maintain the momentum of his song? How could a poet such as Homer weave a tale which filled an evening or, perhaps, a whole long night? The answer lies in memory, as we have known. But this bald explanation does not do justice either to the complexity of memory or to the richness of the Homeric epics...
How could a poet who worked in an oral tradition maintain the momentum of his song? How could a poet such as Homer weave a tale which filled an evening or, perhaps, a whole long night? The answer lies in memory, as we have known. But this bald explanation does not do justice either to the complexity of memory or to the richness of the Homeric epics...
How could a poet who worked in an oral tradition maintain the momentum of his song? How could a poet such as Homer weave a tale which filled an evening or, perhaps, a whole long night? The answer lies in memory, as we have known. But this bald explanation does not do justice either to the complexity of memory or to the richness of the Homeric epics...
Most classical journals report on research on literary, historical and linguistic questions, and rarely allocate space to discussions of pedagogy at tertiary level. This article, however, falls into the latter category. It takes the form of a report on the teaching of Latin and Greek (both classical and post-classical) in universities in Australia...
The hypothesis that the Homeric epics are the products of a formulaic mode of composition characteristic of an oral tradition has for the iast fifty years dominated Homeric research. The theories of Milman Parry and his followers have undoubtedly expanded our understanding of some of the processes which make composition possible. But these same the...
Priam has arrived at Achilles' hut. He has taken Achilles unawares. He has clasped his knees, he has kissed his hands. He has made his twofold plea: he has appealed for compassion in Peleus' name and, taking his cue from Achilles' sympathetic response, he has requested the ransom of Hector. It is the climax of the Iliad. We await Achilles' words, w...
