To what extent did mythological figures such as Circe and Medea influence the representation of the powerful ‘oriental’ enchantress in modern Western art? What role did the ancient gods and heroes play in the construction of the imaginary worlds of the modern fantasy genre? What is the role of undead creatures like zombies and vampires in mythological films?
Looking across the millennia, from the distrust of ancient magic and oriental cults, which threatened the new-born Christian religion, to the revival and adaptation of ancient myths and religion in the arts centuries later, this book offers an original analysis of the reception of ancient magic and the supernatural, across a wide variety of different media – from comics to film, from painting to opera. Working in a variety of fields across the globe, the authors of these essays deconstruct certain scholarly traditions by proposing original interdisciplinary approaches and collaborations, showing to what extent the visual and performing arts of different periods interlink and shape cultural and social identities.
Table of Contents:
1. Magic and the Supernatural: an Introduction, I. Berti and F. Carlà (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany, University of Exeter, UK)
2. Gods and Demons in Texts: Figures and Symbols of the Defixion Inscriptions of the Nymphaeum of Anna Perenna at Rome, J. Blänsdorf (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany)
3. Imaging Magic, Imaging Thinking: The Transmission of Greek Drama from Sophocles to Crimp, L. Hardwick (The Open University, UK)
4. Celtic Magic and Rituals in The War Lord (F. Schaffner, 1965), D. Campanile (Università degli Studi di Pisa, Italy)
5. Witch, Sorceress, Enchantress: Magic and Women from the Ancient World to the Present Time, G. Rocca and M. Treu (IULM Milano, Italy)
6. Circe diva. The Reception of Circe in the Baroque Opera (17th Century), M. J. Castillo Pascual (Universidad de La Rioja, Spain)
7. Medea, a Greek Sorceress in Modern Opera and Ballet: from Barber to Reimann, M. Reig and J. Carruesco (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain)
8. Colchian Pharmaka: The Colours of Medea in 19th Century Painting in France and England, A. Grand-Clément and C. Ribeyrol (Université de Toulouse II – Le Mirail, France, Université Paris IV – Sorbonne, France)
9. Canidia and Erichtho, C. Walde (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany)
10. Project(ion) Wonder Woman – Metamorphoses of a Superheroine, M. Gindhart and A. Gietzen (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany)
11. Ancient Horrors – Cinematic Antiquity and the Undead, M. Lindner (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany)
12. The Phoenix, the Werewolf and the Centaur. The Reception of Mythical Beasts in the Harry Potter Novels and Their Film Adaptions, D. Hofmann (Universität zu Köln, Germany)
13. Theoi becoming Kami. Classical Mythology in the Anime World, M. G. Castello and C. Scilabra (Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy)
14. Every Pony Has a Story: Revisions of Greco-Roman Mythology in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Priscilla Hobbs (Pacifica Graduate Institute, USA)
15. The Depraved Devotion of Elagabalus. Images of the Priest-Emperor in the Visual and Performing Arts, M. Icks (Queen’s University Belfast, UK)
16. Women and Religion in the Epic Films: The Fifties’ Advocate for Conversion and Today’s Pillar of Paganism?, A. Wieber (Westfalen-Kolleg Dortmund, Germany)
List of Contributors
Bibliography
Index
About the Author :
Filippo Carlà is Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter, UK.
Irene Berti is Research Fellow at the Ruprecht Karls Universität, Heidelberg, Germany, and a member of the Collaborative Research Centre 'Material Text Cultures, Materiality and Presence of Writing in Non-Typographic Societies'.
Review :
For anyone interested in the reception history of the ancient supernatural, this is both a satisfying selection of papers and a springboard for deeper analysis.
This extraordinary collection marks a major development in the field of reception studies, as it uncovers the persistent ambiguity of classical antiquity in the modern imagination as not only the glittering paradigm of Western rational thought but also the dark wellspring of enigmatic and dangerous forces.
This rich and diverse collection is a powerful reminder that the legacy of antiquity resides not just in a set of comfortable ideals, but that it lurks in some of the darkest and most irrational parts of our imagination. When we dream of the fabulous, the wicked, the monstrous, and the heroic, we are inevitably drawn to figures and motifs drawn from the classical world. As this book shows, we cannot resist these ancient enchantments.
