MUHLETHALER Jean-Claude.
The Unloved Aeneas. From Medieval Novel to Comic Strip.
Beautiful letters
Regular price
€35,00
| N° d'inventaire | 25413 |
| Format | 15 x 21.5 |
| Détails | 410 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2016 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782251730462 |
The deeds and actions of Virgil's hero, Augustus's mythical ancestor, struggle to occupy center stage, as if posterity could not identify with them. The reasons for such an imbalance deserved to be examined. A traitor in love and a traitor to his homeland, which he delivered to the Greeks, Aeneas has long been condemned. Even his redemptive journey is not enough to redeem him, because he seems too serious, too thoughtful, to arouse the empathy that would allow successive audiences to identify with him. What historical conditions must be met for a revaluation of Aeneas to become possible, for his adventures to regain meaning? At the cost of what distortions does the acculturation of the ancient epic take place from one generation of readers to the next, in Europe and elsewhere?
Aeneas's metamorphoses over the centuries involve literary and cultural, but also existential and ideological, issues. Aeneas lends itself to a political reading, as he is the father of an empire and a warlord; through his wanderings and errors, his encounter with Dido (love), then with his father in hell (duty), he appears as an individual in search of identity, seeking meaning in his life. An attentive student of the Sibyl, curious about the afterlife he explores, he also stands out as an intellectual eager for knowledge. From medieval novels to comics, including theater, opera, and desacralizing parody, each era has chosen its own Aeneas, whether it finds a model in him or condemns him to the pillory. From Fulgentius, commentator on the Aeneid, to Christa Wolf, his trajectory has never ceased to raise fundamental questions.
Aeneas's metamorphoses over the centuries involve literary and cultural, but also existential and ideological, issues. Aeneas lends itself to a political reading, as he is the father of an empire and a warlord; through his wanderings and errors, his encounter with Dido (love), then with his father in hell (duty), he appears as an individual in search of identity, seeking meaning in his life. An attentive student of the Sibyl, curious about the afterlife he explores, he also stands out as an intellectual eager for knowledge. From medieval novels to comics, including theater, opera, and desacralizing parody, each era has chosen its own Aeneas, whether it finds a model in him or condemns him to the pillory. From Fulgentius, commentator on the Aeneid, to Christa Wolf, his trajectory has never ceased to raise fundamental questions.
Aeneas's metamorphoses over the centuries involve literary and cultural, but also existential and ideological, issues. Aeneas lends itself to a political reading, as he is the father of an empire and a warlord; through his wanderings and errors, his encounter with Dido (love), then with his father in hell (duty), he appears as an individual in search of identity, seeking meaning in his life. An attentive student of the Sibyl, curious about the afterlife he explores, he also stands out as an intellectual eager for knowledge. From medieval novels to comics, including theater, opera, and desacralizing parody, each era has chosen its own Aeneas, whether it finds a model in him or condemns him to the pillory. From Fulgentius, commentator on the Aeneid, to Christa Wolf, his trajectory has never ceased to raise fundamental questions.