John Heath Libri

The book delves into the ancient Greek perspective on speech, highlighting its significance as the defining trait of humanity. It examines how the Greeks viewed communication as integral to identity, culture, and social interaction, offering insights into their philosophical and rhetorical traditions. Through this exploration, the work reflects on the broader implications of speech for understanding human nature and societal development in ancient times.

This book examines the literary applications and implications in classical literature of the myth of Actaeon, a young hunter transformed into a stag and torn to shreds by his own hunting dogs. Setting psychological and anthropological speculation aside, this study argues that the «meaning» of the myth is redetermined by each telling of the tale. After reviewing the fragmentary evidence in archaic and classical Greek poetry, the book explores the literary functions of the myth in the four extant texts which incorporate the Callimachus' Bath of Pallas , the Metamorphoses of both Ovid and Apuleius, and Nonnus' Dionysiaca . Each chapter evolves into an illuminating discussion of the poetics of these four very different and somewhat eccentric authors.

Suze is having a difficult Friday: her mother has disappeared into Greek myth; her dog just vanished, only to show up in a very peculiar mythological dictionary; and her dad is transforming into a bird of prey. She summons her slightly obsessive best friend Dimitri to help solve the mystery, but he spends much of his time losing a battle of wits with the dictionary. Even more unsettling, however, Suze herself--one of Zeus's distant progeny, as she is alarmed to learn--is suddenly sprouting feathers. Pulling them out only conjures up troubling mythological figures like Heracles, Hera, Helen, Cronus, and Hephaestus, who variously attempt to eat, aid, drown, advise, and set fire to the two friends. Things only get worse when they finally make it to Olympus, the languishing home of the gods.

The story follows Jed Stone, who becomes an orphan at the age of seven after the tragic deaths of his parents. His life takes a tumultuous turn as he navigates a series of poor decisions. A pivotal moment occurs when a youth pastor introduces him to a Chicago Cubs World Series game in 1943, where Jed catches a stray baseball during a chaotic fan frenzy. He chooses to hide this baseball in a secret spot, symbolizing both a moment of joy and a turning point in his troubled life.

This exploration delves into the profound influence of the Homeric pantheon and Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament, on Western culture's understanding of divine myths. It examines the similarities and differences between these two sets of beliefs, highlighting their impact on themes of morality, existence, and the search for meaning in ancient narratives. Through this comparative analysis, the book sheds light on how these mythologies have shaped cultural and philosophical thought throughout history.

Stefan Heym’s very beginnings as a writer were a direct response to the threat of Fascism and the mass veneration of Hitler, and in his American exile he was to encounter the marketing and image machinery of capitalism and democratic politics. After arriving in the GDR in the wake of McCarthyism he was then confronted with the Stalin cult and the stark contradiction between the personality cult and the purported aims of the Communist vision. This book examines Heym’s response to a problem that did not die out with the collapse of the Soviet bloc and which he treated as a universal phenomenon, and probes the extent to which he employed various publicity techniques to shape his own reception as a writer. In this analysis of an often controversial figure, the author draws on much uncovered archive material, and places close readings in a broad context; this is one of few studies that deal with Heym’s career as a whole, from his beginnings in the Weimar Republic and Czechoslovakia and his overnight success in America through to his eminence as an intellectual public figure in the GDR and the reunified Germany.