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The Epic Hero

Dean A. Miller

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Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title

From Odysseus to Aeneas, from Beowulf to King Arthur, from the Mahâbhârata to the Ossetian "Nart" tales, epic heroes and their stories have symbolized the power of the human imagination. Drawing on diverse disciplines including classics, anthropology, psychology, and literary studies, this product of twenty years' scholarship provides a detailed typology of the hero in Western myth: birth, parentage, familial ties, sexuality, character, deeds, death, and afterlife. Dean A. Miller examines the place of the hero in the physical world...

Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title

From Odysseus to Aeneas, from Beowulf to King Arthur, from the Mahâbhârata to the Ossetian "Nart" tales, epic heroes and their stories have symbolized the power of the human imagination. Drawing on diverse disciplines including classics, anthropology, psychology, and literary studies, this product of twenty years' scholarship provides a detailed typology of the hero in Western myth: birth, parentage, familial ties, sexuality, character, deeds, death, and afterlife. Dean A. Miller examines the place of the hero in the physical world (wilderness, castle, prison cell) and in society (among monarchs, fools, shamans, rivals, and gods). He looks at the hero in battle and quest; at his political status; and at his relationship to established religion. The book spans Western epic traditions, including Greek, Roman, Nordic, and Celtic, as well as the Indian and Persian legacies. A large section of the book also examines the figures who modify or accompany the hero: partners, helpers (animals and sometimes monsters), foes, foils, and even antitypes. The Epic Hero provides a comprehensive and provocative guide to epic heroes, and to the richly imaginative tales they inhabit.

Reviews

Reviews

The range is vast and covers most of Western epic literature—Greek, Celtic, Nordic, Roman, Persian, and Indian... [Miller] has provided not only a wealth of information on the epic hero, but he shows why the hero presented in the epic mode has held human imagination for so long.

Miller commands an impressive range of material, and his original synthesis offers valuable insights to students of ancient and medieval literature.

Why does an epic hero tend to act so arrogantly and destructively? Miller offers a convincing answer to this question, which arises with the emergence of modern consciousness, in light of the hero's functional social position an dhis essentially adolescent, flat interior... with thoughtful insight and thorough scholarship, Miller's book is a major piece of research that cannot be ignored in any future discussion of the epic and its ever-dazzling hero.

This study, rich and plentiful but also subtle and suggestive, will serve as a reference work for a broad range of researchers in contiguous disciplines (ancient studies, comparative religion, history, philosophy).

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Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6.25
x
9.25
Pages
520
ISBN
9780801870941
Table of Contents

Introduction. The Book of the Hero
Chapter 1. The Hero from on High
Chapter 2. The Heroic Biography
Chapter 3. The Framework of Adventure
Chapter 4. The Hero "Speaks"
Chapter 5. Foils, Fools, and

Introduction. The Book of the Hero
Chapter 1. The Hero from on High
Chapter 2. The Heroic Biography
Chapter 3. The Framework of Adventure
Chapter 4. The Hero "Speaks"
Chapter 5. Foils, Fools, and Antiheroes
Chapter 6. Tertium Quid: Aspects of Liminality
Chapter 7. The Final Hero: Beyond Immortality
Notes
Index

Author Bio
Dean A. Miller
Featured Contributor

Dean A. Miller, Ph.D.

Dean A. Miller is a professor emeritus of history and comparative religion at the University of Rochester.