Graalslegende in psychologischer Sicht

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Walter Pohl, Gerda Heydemann

Classical civilization (and hence contemporary Western culture) had deep roots in Afro-Asiatic cultures, but these influences have been systematically overlooked. This series of monographs and collections of articles addresses the social, religious, and cultural interactions between East and West. This volume looks at changing identities during the transition from the Roman Empire to a political world defined by different kingdoms and peoples in western Europe. It addresses 'ethnicity' in the context of alternative modes of identification, mainly Christianity and Romanness. To widen the horizon of current debates, it shows that the ancient dichotomy between barbarians and Romans is hardly helpful in understanding the complex transitions to a post-imperial age in the West. In a broad sweep of regional examples, from Spain and North Africa to Dalmatia and the British Isles, the book follows the unfolding of Christian and barbarian identities: How were both the Roman and the barbarian past used for the formation and legitimation of new identities? The 'scripts of Romanness' changed in the early Middle Ages, and so did the significance of othering pagans, heretics, or barbarians. The contributions trace the tenacity and the ambiguity of traditional narratives and signs of distinction: manuscripts and material remains, costume and epigraphy, historiography and hagiography were used in creative ways to shape civic, local, or religious communities. Many of the contributions show the fundamental importance of Christian 'strategies of identification' for-creating a stronger political role for ethnicity in the post-Roman kingdoms. As such, they follow-a line of argument that has also been explored in the book's companion volume in this series, Strategies of Identification: Ethnicity and Religion in Early Medieval Europe (CELAMA 13).

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Hiromi Yoshida

In this posthumous but positive textual reconciliation, Hiromi Yoshida synthesizes the seemingly oppositional discourses of James Joyce and Carl Gustav Jung as she works chapter by chapter to excavate the psyche of Stephen Dedalus. She surveys the iconicity of the biblical Eve, the classical Helen, the medieval Virgin, and the Gnostic Sophia before correlating each of these embodiments of anima phenomenology to Stephen's mother, the Nighttown prostitute, the Virgin Mary of sodality worship, and the Bird-Girl. Thus, she moves towards the conclusion that Stephen's ironic passage through Jung's "four stages of eroticism" culminates in the Marian over-identification that is symptomatic of autoerotic repression. The illustrations in the book are particularly interesting and well-chosen.

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M. I. Ebbutt

"As the nineteenth century gave way to the twentieth, a number of books appeared in English dealing with the romantic and fascinating world of myth and legend. Among the few that went on to become minor classics of that genre was M. I. Ebbutt's Hero Myths and Legends of the British Race." "The nine stories selected from the 1910 edition of Ebbutt's book have been reset in a modern typeface, but retaining every detail - content, spelling and orthography - in order to keep the flavour of the time and the nature of Ebbutt's writing. In editing and selecting the stories for inclusion in this version, John Matthews has written an introductory essay to each, providing the background, context and relevant historical or mythological origins of the tales. He also draws on his considerable expertise and knowledge of the subject to provide an overall Introduction to this edition, designed to bring the stories to a new audience worldwide." "As well as the original stories, a selection of the original illustrations has also been included to show the pictorial style used at the time. These have been supplemented by new colour plates, specially painted for this edition by artist and illustrator Peter Komarnyckyj."--BOOK JACKET.

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Rebecca Smith

In this important study, Rebecca Smith (no relation to the author of this study) uses language theory and feminist critical theory to examine Lee Smith's "critique" of gender ideology in her fiction. This book charts Lee Smith's fictional exploration of the cultural devaluation of women and of the traditional romance plot. An in-depth look at Smith's appropriation of male myth, images and language, all of which she uses to deconstruct traditional gender arrangements, the work chronologically covers Lee Smith's first nine novels and her two short story collections.