The Metamorphoses of Ancient Myths

Małgorzata Budzowska / Burç İdem Dinçel /
Jadwiga Czerwińska / Katarzyna Chiżyńska (eds.)

The Metamorphoses of
Ancient Myths

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This Publication was financially supported by the Chair of Classics and the Institute of Romance Studies of the University of Lodz.

ISBN 978-3-631-67372-0 (Print)

E-ISBN 978-3-653-06632-6 (E-Book)

E-ISBN 978-3-631-70224-6 (EPUB)

E-ISBN 978-3-631-70225-3 (MOBI)

DOI 10.3726/978-3-653-06632-6

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About the editors

Małgorzata Budzowska is Assistant Professor at Classics Faculty, University of Lodz. She is author of books and articles regarding reception of ancient myths in modern and contemporary drama and theatre.

Burç İdem Dinçel researches Drama at Trinity College Dublin and is author of a book and many articles on Beckett and essays on Attic tragedy.

Jadwiga Czerwin´ska is Full Professor at Chair of Romance Studies, University of Lodz. She is author of books and articles on Euripides’ tragedy and ancient philosophy.

Katarzyna Chiz˙yn´ska is Assistant Professor at Classics Faculty, University of Lodz. Her research interest is focused on scholia and theatrical practises of ancient theatre.

About the book

This book gives a comprehensive overview of the phenomenon of artistic dialogue with ancient myths. The contributions assume a double-track research approach. The contributors investigate the procedure of myths’ recycling within Greco-Roman antiquity, and they consider modern re-occupations of myths in dramatic literature and theatre. Providing various examples of myths’ reception from antiquity to present days, this book confirms the persistent human need of re-mythization.

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Contents

Acknowledgements

List of contributors

Małgorzata Budzowska and Burç İdem Dinçel

Introduction. The Work of Myth within the Work on Myth

Part I Work on Myth within Antiquity

Jadwiga Czerwińska

Myth in Greek Drama of Classical Greece in the Light of Scholia

Katarzyna Chiżyńska

Greek Myths in the Hypotheseis of Tragedy of the Classical Period

Françoise Lecocq

The Palm Tree, the Phoenix and the Wild Boar: Scientific and Literary Reception of a Strange Trio in Pliny the Elder (Natural History 13, 42–43) and in Satyricon (40, 3–8)

Cíntia Martins Sanches

Seneca’s Phoenissae: Anger and the Myth of Oedipus

Damian Pierzak

Is Pelias a Mistake for Aeson? Towards a New Interpretation of Cicero’s De senectute 23, 83

Hanna Zalewska-Jura

Mythical Motifs in Early Byzantine Epigrams

Part II Modern and Postmodern Work on Myth

Olympia Tachopoulou

Ancient Tragedy in Seferis’ Poetry: From Existential Historicism to Philosophical Existentialism←5 | 6→

Tomasz Kaczmarek

Yvan Goll and Ancient Legacy in His Work

Anna Zaorska

Myths as “Collective Experiences” in the German Democratic Republic on the Example of Chosen Works by Heiner Müller

Rossana Zetti

The Re-staging of Antigone in Twentieth-Century Europe:
an Irish Example

Magdalena Hasiuk

“As if he was not a grandson but the child of the Greeks”: Wajdi Mouawad’s Dialogue with Antiquity

Stephen Wilmer

Greek Tragedy as a Window on the Dispossessed

Małgorzata Budzowska

Death in Theatre. Between Word and Image

Burç İdem Dinçel

The Tragic Burst of Laughter in Theodoros Terzopoulos’ Prometheus Bound

Index←6 | 7→

Acknowledgements

This volume is the result of the painstaking efforts of many people, including contributors, reviewers, editors as well as the organisers of the second edition of the international conference Reception of Ancient Myths in Ancient, Modern and Postmodern Culture that took place at the University of Lodz in Poland in November 2015. The conference was organised by the Laboratory of Reception of Greek Literature, which is a part of the Chair of Classical Philology, working in cooperation with the Chair of Romance Studies. Editors of the volume would like to warmly thank the reviewers (prof. Mercedes Aguirre – Complutensa University of Madrid, Spain; dr Barbara Bibik – Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland; dr hab. Agnieszka Dziuba – Catholic University of Lublin, Poland; dr Özlem Hemiş – Istanbul University, State Conservatory, Turkey; dr Laura Jansen – University of Bristol, England; dr Panayiota Mini – University of Crete, Greece; prof. Krzysztof Narecki – Catholic University of Lublin, Poland; dr hab. Ewa Osek – Catholic University of Lublin, Poland; dr Joanna Pypłacz – Jagiellonian University Library, Kraków, Poland; dr Benjamin Eldon Stevens – Trinity University, San Antonio, USA; prof. Jerzy Styka – Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland), who through a double-blind process provided critical insight into the essays presented in this book.←7 | 8→ ←8 | 9→

List of contributors

Małgorzata Budzowska – Assistant Professor at Classics Faculty, University of Lodz in Poland. She was awarded her PhD by the University of Lodz, Classics Faculty, and MA by the Institute of Contemporary Culture (theatre and drama theory) at the same university. Her book Phaedra – Ethics of Emotions in the Tragedies of Euripides, Seneca and Racine (Peter Lang 2012) considers intertextual correlations between three plays which adapted the myth of Phaedra in relation to the theory of unrestraint (akrasia) by Aristotle. She is a co-editor of the volume Ancient Myths in the Making of Culture (Peter Lang 2014). Currently, she is involved in two research projects: Reception of Ancient Myths of Mediterranean Culture in Polish Theatre of the Twenty-first Century and Ancient Drama and Theatre in the Works of Scholiasts, both funded by the National Science Centre in Poland.

Jadwiga Czerwińska – Full Professor at the University of Lodz, chief editor of Collectanea Philologica, member of The Committee on Ancient Culture of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), The Classical Association, The Centrum Latinitatis Europae, The Scientific Committee of Łódż (ŁTN), The Scientific Committee at KUL (Catholic University of Lublin), The Polish Philological Committee (PTF), the scholar of Hardt Foundation, Vandoeuvres-Genève, and The Lanckoronski Foundation. Interested in Greek theatre and drama (mainly Euripides), Greek philosophy and the reception of Antiquity in Italian culture. Author of many articles, including Polish and Italian monographs about the works of Euripides. For her achievements, she was awarded, inter alia, with the medal of The Commission of National Education. She was also prized by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

Katarzyna Chiżyńska – Assistant Professor at University of Lodz (Poland), Chair of Classical Philology. PhD (2012) in Classical Literature (Scholia Medicea in Aeschyli “Persas” – Translation and Commentary), MA (2007) in Cultural Studies (theatre), MA (2005) in Classical Philology. Current research project: Ancient theatre and drama in the light of scholia (National Science Centre). Her research concerns ancient scholars’ works and poetics of ancient drama.

Burç İdem Dinçel – PhD candidate in Drama at Trinity College Dublin. He has published extensively on Theatre and Translation Studies and taught courses on twentieth-century theatre, theatre movements, traditional Turkish theatre, as well as the history of Turkish theatre. He is the author of Last Tape on Stage in Translation: Unwinding Beckett’s Spool in Turkey.←9 | 10→