Abstract
The tripartite themes that we now associate with Orpheus are themselves discrete fragments of scattered stories that the reception of Orpheus has seen re-assimilated and re-assembled since antiquity, with different parts overlooked and with others picked up and placed in different positions of prominence at different times. This chapter seeks to piece together some of the scattered fragments of this myth from different dates in its reception, focusing upon moments of schism, of mutilation and sparagmos. Directly inspired by Frederick Leighton's 1864 painting Orpheus and Eurydice, Robert Browning's 1864 short poem “Eurydice to Orpheus” presents a reconstructed narrative fragment from the Orpheus myth, in which the silent Eurydice represented in Leighton's painting finds her own poetic voice. As with Bracha Ettinger's paintings, the sequence of organic creation described in Rachel DuPlessis' poem reminds us to look back for the “seeds of Eurydice” in earlier receptions of the myth too.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | A Handbook to the Reception of Classical Mythology |
| Editors | Vanda Zajko, Helena Hoyle |
| Place of Publication | Hoboken, NJ, USA |
| Publisher | Wiley-Blackwell |
| Pages | 287-298 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781119072034 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781444339604 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 28 Mar 2017 |
Research Groups and Themes
- Institute of Greece, Rome, and the Classical Tradition
Keywords
- Ettinger's paintings
- Eurydice myth
- mutilation
- narrative fragment
- Orpheus myth
- scattered stories
- schism
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Orpheus and Eurydice'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Profiles
-
Professor Genevieve Liveley
- Department of Classics & Ancient History - Professor of Classics
Person: Academic