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This volume analyzes the narrative structure of the Theogony to support the argument that this poem is a didactic poem explaining the position of man in the divine universe. It discusses how Hesiod employs narratological devices to achieve his purposes.
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THE NARRATIVE VOICE IN THE THEOGONY OF HESIOD This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stoddard, Kathryn. The narrative voice in the Theogony of Hesiod / by Kathryn Stoddard. p. cm. — (Mnemosyne, bibliotheca classica Batava. Supplementum, ISSN 0169-8958 ; 255) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 90-04-14002-6 (hc.) 1. Hesiod. Theogony. 2. Religious poetry, Greek—History and criticism. 3. Gods, Greek, in literature. 4. Hesiod—Technique. 5. Narration (Rhetoric) 6. Voice in literature. 7. Rhetoric, Ancient. I. Title. II. Series. PA4009.T5S76 2004 881’.01—dc22 2004049681 ISSN 0169-8958 ISBN 90 04 14002 6 © Copyright 2004 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands For my dear Parents CONTENTS Acknowledgements ………………………………………..…… ix Introduction …………………………………………………..… xi Chapter One The ‘Autobiographical’ Reading of Hesiod …... 1 Chapter Two The Implied Author of the Theogony …………. 34 Chapter Three The Muses and the Mortal Narrator …………... 60 Chapter Four Character-Text, Attributive Discourse, And Embedded Focalization ………………………………... 98 Chapter Five Anachrony in the Theogony ………………….. 126 Chapter Six Commentary ………………………………….. 162 Conclusion …………………………………………………….. 189 Bibliography …………………………………………………... 193 Index Nominum ac Rerum ……………………………………. 203 Index Locorum………………………………………………….. 207 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book began as the 2000 dissertation that I wrote under the direction of Jenny Strauss Clay at the University of Virgina. Although the work has since undergone substantial revision, I am deeply grateful to Jenny Strauss Clay for the care and expertise with which she guided its early stages. I have also benefited from being permitted to see a draft of her recent monograph, Hesiod’s Cosmos, before its publication. I should like to express my gratitude to John Miller, Christopher Pelling, and W. Jeffrey Tatum, all of whom gave me valuable advice and encouragement as I labored to revise the manuscript and bring it to publication. I wish to thank my friends Christopher Nappa and Steven Smith for their generosity, humor, and their excellent advice over the twelve years that I have known them. I am also grateful to the Rev. Canon Bradley T. Page for his spiritual guidance and support in the latter stages of this book. Lastly, I wish to express my profound gratitude to my parents, Gerard and Patricia Stoddard, whose unfailing generosity and constant love have made possible my career as a scholar. Kathryn B. Stoddard Florida State University, March 2004 INTRODUCTION Hesiodic scholarship has long labored under the inhibiting assumption that Hesiod composed from an autobiographical standpoint, and that his first-person statements are intended to be taken as accurate descriptions of his s