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Humanities
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Greek Mythology & Modern Culture: Reshaping Aesthetic Tastes
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Greek Mythology & Modern Culture: Reshaping Aesthetic Tastes

A special issue of Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 23962

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Phillip Zapkin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
English Department, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16823, USA
Interests: drama; adaptation; world literature; British literature; ancient literature; performance; horror
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Kevin Wetmore

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Communication & Fine Arts, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA 90045, USA
Interests: Japanese theatre; African theatre; Shakespeare; Greek tragedy; stage combat and comedy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Much of the Western world has a rising problem with white nationalists. These white supremacists often co-opt fields like Classics, medievalism, and Norse mythology to support their racist ideologies—twisting these disciplines and repressing or ignoring evidence for the multicultural and multiracial realities of the ancient and medieval world. In terms of Classics, these distortions and appropriations have been documented by an emerging generation of scholars like Donna Zuckerberg, Dan-el Padilla Peralta, Curtis Dozier, Sarah Bond, and others. Ancient myth, literature, and symbols continue to pervade modern culture.

In particular, Greek myth continues to shape modern worldviews, influence contemporary artists and writers, and appeal to our literary and aesthetic tastes. However, understandings of Greek myth—both in its original context and its reception by later generations—have changed dramatically over time. This special issue of Humanities seeks articles about current research in Greek mythology. Submissions should present cutting edge research about an aspect of Greek myth, prepared for a general audience. 

This special issue seeks to offer an impression of the field, with essays presenting different arguments about Greek myth. While this is a broad brief, the issue as a whole should explore the ways in which Greek myth, and debates about it, remains relevant to the modern world.

Dr. Phillip Zapkin
Prof. Dr. Kevin Wetmore
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Humanities is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Greek Myth
  • Reception
  • Adaptation
  • Greek Drama
  • Greek Poetry

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 4377 KiB  
Article
Mythologies of Genesis and Neo-Nazi Palingenesis: Commemorating the Battle of Thermopylae in the Political Rites of the Golden Dawn
by Eleftheria Ioannidou
Humanities 2022, 11(4), 88; https://doi.org/10.3390/h11040088 - 12 Jul 2022
Viewed by 3705
Abstract
This article examines the public commemorations of the battle of Thermopylae held by the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn in the wider context of fascist appropriations of classical antiquity. The discussion focuses on the rhetorical and cultural mechanisms involved in transforming the historical [...] Read more.
This article examines the public commemorations of the battle of Thermopylae held by the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn in the wider context of fascist appropriations of classical antiquity. The discussion focuses on the rhetorical and cultural mechanisms involved in transforming the historical event into a fascist mythology. Drawing on methodologies of narrative analysis and performance studies, I examine the narrative patterns and ritual practices deployed in these commemorations to engross the participants in stories of genesis and rebirth. During the commemorations of Thermopylae, Golden Dawn strove to revive both the spirit of the Spartan soldiers and the ideals of Nazism. The example of GD demonstrates that the persistence of the narrative of rebirth within neo-Nazi cultures is instrumental in the resurgence of fascism. By looking at this example closely, we can conclude that commitment of neo-Nazi groups to classical antiquity invites reflection upon the role of classical traditions in Western culture. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Greek Mythology & Modern Culture: Reshaping Aesthetic Tastes)
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9 pages, 218 KiB  
Article
Marvel Presents a Global Utopia and Confronts Nationalism: Eternals as a New Mythology Forged from Western Roots
by Emma de Beus
Humanities 2022, 11(3), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/h11030060 - 14 May 2022
Viewed by 3073
Abstract
Marvel’s 2021 film Eternals presents a new mythology for a new century, for an audience grappling with the complexity of postcolonialism and concerned about resurging white nationalism. Its mythology, while rooted in Western narratives, presents a utopia in the form of a multicultural [...] Read more.
Marvel’s 2021 film Eternals presents a new mythology for a new century, for an audience grappling with the complexity of postcolonialism and concerned about resurging white nationalism. Its mythology, while rooted in Western narratives, presents a utopia in the form of a multicultural pantheon, presented by a carefully selected, diverse class. While Marvel undoubtedly has commercial concerns, its careful construction of this new mythology and the considered adaptation process show a moral vision for the future. Importantly, this vision presents a direct contrast to the resurgence of the appropriation of classical mythology as justification for white supremacy. Marvel’s Eternals therefore can be seen as utopian: it offers the perfection of moral predictability, of good triumphing over evil. However, it simultaneously undercuts its story by couching it in the genre of a comic book superhero fantasy adventure–the reality Eternals offers, even fictionally, is beyond ordinary, mortal humans. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Greek Mythology & Modern Culture: Reshaping Aesthetic Tastes)
15 pages, 2000 KiB  
Article
Do We Have a New Song Yet? The New Wave of Women’s Novels and the Homeric Tradition
by Barbara Goff
Humanities 2022, 11(2), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/h11020049 - 5 Apr 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3624
Abstract
The relationship between women and classical antiquity, its texts, artefacts, and study, has been fraught to say the least; the discipline of Classics has often been defined by the exclusion of women, in terms of their education and their ability to contribute to [...] Read more.
The relationship between women and classical antiquity, its texts, artefacts, and study, has been fraught to say the least; the discipline of Classics has often been defined by the exclusion of women, in terms of their education and their ability to contribute to debates more generally. However, we are currently in the middle of an astonishing period when women are laying more of a claim to the discipline than ever before. This article examines three recent novels by women which take on the cultural weight of the Homeric epics, Iliad and Odyssey, to explore the possibilities of a ‘new song’ that foregrounds female characters. The novels experiment with different narrative voices and are self-conscious about the practices of story-telling and of bardic song. Their awareness of their challenge to and contest with Homeric tradition renders their ‘new songs’ fragile as well as precious. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Greek Mythology & Modern Culture: Reshaping Aesthetic Tastes)
15 pages, 287 KiB  
Article
Petrifyin’: Canonical Counter-Discourse in Two Caribbean Women’s Medusa Poems
by Phillip Zapkin
Humanities 2022, 11(1), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/h11010024 - 7 Feb 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3058
Abstract
This essay utilizes Helen Tiffin’s idea of canonical counter-discourse to read the Medusa poems of Shara McCallum and Dorothea Smartt, two female Caribbean poets. Essentially, canonical counter-discourse involves authors rewriting works or giving voice to peripheral/silenced characters from the literary canon to challenge [...] Read more.
This essay utilizes Helen Tiffin’s idea of canonical counter-discourse to read the Medusa poems of Shara McCallum and Dorothea Smartt, two female Caribbean poets. Essentially, canonical counter-discourse involves authors rewriting works or giving voice to peripheral/silenced characters from the literary canon to challenge inequalities upheld by power structures such as imperialism and patriarchy. McCallum’s and Smartt’s poems represent Medusa to reflect their own concerns as women of color from Jamaica and Barbados, respectively. McCallum’s “Madwoman as Rasta Medusa” aligns the titular character from her book Madwoman with Medusa to express Madwoman’s righteous anger at the “wanton” and “gravalicious” ways of a Babylon addressed in second person. Smartt’s series of Medusa poems from Connecting Medium explore the pain of hair and skin treatments Black women endure to try and meet Euro-centric beauty standards, as well as the struggles of immigrants, particularly people of color. Both poets claim Medusa as kindred, empowering Medusa as a figure with agency—which she is denied in the Greco-Roman sources—and simultaneously legitimizing both Caribbean literature and the poets’ feminist and post-colonial protests by linking them to the cultural capital of the classics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Greek Mythology & Modern Culture: Reshaping Aesthetic Tastes)
13 pages, 302 KiB  
Article
Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man Discussing Narratives of Domestic Abuse and Gaslighting through the Cassandra Myth
by Alice Payne
Humanities 2022, 11(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/h11010002 - 22 Dec 2021
Viewed by 5428
Abstract
Renowned for its hard-hitting exploration of gaslighting and domestic abuse, Leigh Whannell’s 2020 film The Invisible Man has inevitably been linked to the #MeToo movement. Despite the film’s contemporary premise, however, its narrative of male violence and female silencing is fundamentally rooted within [...] Read more.
Renowned for its hard-hitting exploration of gaslighting and domestic abuse, Leigh Whannell’s 2020 film The Invisible Man has inevitably been linked to the #MeToo movement. Despite the film’s contemporary premise, however, its narrative of male violence and female silencing is fundamentally rooted within classical literature and can be seen as an appropriation of the Cassandra myth. This article will be reviewing the continued relevance of the Cassandra myth today and the impact of her appearance within the horror movie genre. It will identify how Cassandra’s narrative as a truth-speaker, who is met with disbelief, has been appropriated for both thematic and critical effect. It will also consider the gendered implication of truth-speakers in horror and the impact of representing a female Cassandra onscreen to critique gendered issues, such as female silencing, domestic abuse, and gaslighting. By applying the classical figure of Cassandra to Whannell’s The Invisible Man, this article will continue by highlighting the patriarchal mechanisms which have historically dictated the reliability of female truth-speaker, thus connecting modern truth-speakers to their ancient counterparts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Greek Mythology & Modern Culture: Reshaping Aesthetic Tastes)
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