- Classics
125 Queens' Park
Toronto ON M5S 2c7
Jonathan S. Burgess
University of Toronto, Classics, Faculty Member
- Classics, Literary Theory, Homer, Travel Writing, Greek Epic Cycle, Odyssey, and 12 moreOral Traditions, Homeric studies, Classical Reception Studies, Homeric poetry, Greek Epic, Ancient Greek Mythology, Homeric epic, Greek Literature, Classical Mythology, Ancient Greek Literature, Orality-Literacy Studies, and Oral literatureedit
- Jonathan S. Burgess has worked on early Greek epic, with a special interest in Epic Cycle literary and mythological h... moreJonathan S. Burgess has worked on early Greek epic, with a special interest in Epic Cycle literary and mythological history. His most recent monograph is an introduction to Homer and Homeric studies, including theory and reception. Other research focuses on the Odyssey and travel literature; he is esp. interested in the reception of the Odyssey. He oversees a website dedicated to the localization of Odysseus in antiquity and modern travel literature [http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~jburgess/rop/od.voyage.html].edit
Research Interests:
In Tenue est mendacium Rethinking Fakes and Authorship in Classical, Late Antique & Early Christian Works; so: a historical event that in the periplus is a travel narrative that readily employs the tropes of fantastic or ethnographic... more
In Tenue est mendacium Rethinking Fakes and Authorship in Classical, Late Antique & Early Christian Works; so: a historical event that in the periplus is a travel narrative that readily employs the tropes of fantastic or ethnographic travel writing...
Research Interests:
proofs of introduction to Yearbook of Ancient Greek Epic, with a review of Cycle Studies and introduction to papers in the volume on Nostoi and Telegony and their relation to the Odyssey.
select paratextual pages from the Chinese translation/publication of my first book...
Elpenor as a 'Palinurnus figure'; postcolonial topoi in Italy; epitaphs by the sea
from The Cambridge History of Travel Writing, eds. N. Das, T. Youngs [table of contents provided]
The topic is the burial of the corpse of Odysseus at Aeaea in the Telegony. I argue that in the Cyclic epic the corpse is buried at an Aeaea localized in Italy. The prophecy of Tiresias in Odyssey 11 may allude to some version of the... more
The topic is the burial of the corpse of Odysseus at Aeaea in the Telegony. I argue that in the Cyclic epic the corpse is buried at an Aeaea localized in Italy. The prophecy of Tiresias in Odyssey 11 may allude to some version of the Telegonus story, but the Home-ric epic largely discounts such epichoric legends about Odysseus. Correspondences and differences between the Odyssey and the Telegony result from independent self-positioning within traditional Odyssean myth.
This paper explores the epics Odyssey and Telegony from the perspective of spatial theory. The polarity of land and sea is of great significance in Odyssean narratives. The Odyssey features its hero’s account of his wanderings at sea,... more
This paper explores the epics Odyssey and Telegony from the perspective of spatial theory. The polarity of land and sea is of great significance in Odyssean narratives. The Odyssey features its hero’s account of his wanderings at sea, striving to return to Ithaca, an island in the sea. The Homeric poem indicates that Ithaca has various politico-economic connections to the mainland, and some of Odysseus’
lying tales feature Thesprotia on the mainland. Tiresias imposes a geographically obscure “inland” journey on Odysseus, and his prediction of death “from the sea” for Odysseus centers on the spatial binary of land / sea. In the Telegony the hero journeys to both Elis and Thesprotia, before returning to Ithaca, where death arrives “from the sea”. Afterwards his corpse is removed to Circe’s island, which in the Odyssey is far out in the sea, though Aeaea may in the Telegony already be localized at the cape Monte Circeo in Italy.
lying tales feature Thesprotia on the mainland. Tiresias imposes a geographically obscure “inland” journey on Odysseus, and his prediction of death “from the sea” for Odysseus centers on the spatial binary of land / sea. In the Telegony the hero journeys to both Elis and Thesprotia, before returning to Ithaca, where death arrives “from the sea”. Afterwards his corpse is removed to Circe’s island, which in the Odyssey is far out in the sea, though Aeaea may in the Telegony already be localized at the cape Monte Circeo in Italy.
My argument is that the Homeric story of Odysseus’ wanderings at sea, the apologos of Odysseus, is traditional. The Odyssey’s account would naturally vary in scale, arrangement, and complexity from preceding and/or contemporaneous... more
My argument is that the Homeric story of Odysseus’ wanderings at sea, the apologos of Odysseus, is traditional. The Odyssey’s account would naturally vary in scale, arrangement, and complexity from preceding and/or contemporaneous versions. But we should assume what ancient audiences would expect, that the basic material in the Homeric wanderings is traditional. Homerists have resisted this view. There are multiple theories that claim radical Homeric invention for the apologos, whether by plagiarism (e. g., of Argonautic myth), inversion (fantastic for real-world travel), or collection (of folktales or sailors’ yarns). The poetics of the apologos may be distinctive, but it is hard to believe that it filled
an empty slot with random material. I would side with Italo Calvino’s judgment that the journey of Odysseus was ‘the most archaic stratum’ of the epic.
an empty slot with random material. I would side with Italo Calvino’s judgment that the journey of Odysseus was ‘the most archaic stratum’ of the epic.
Narratives about Ithaca from antiquity and post-antiquity offer various representations of the island. Homer's Odyssey, besides recounting Odysseus's return to Ithaca, provides an ambiguous ethnography of lthaca. Although the epic... more
Narratives about Ithaca from antiquity and post-antiquity offer various representations of the island. Homer's Odyssey,
besides recounting Odysseus's return to Ithaca, provides an ambiguous
ethnography of lthaca. Although the epic celebrates the hero's defeat of
Penelope's suitors, it hints that the island's economic and political power
in its region is less than expected. Other ancient tales about Odysseus
depict Ithaca as vulnerable, and some legends seemingly co-opt the hero
by narrating his departure from Ithaca forever. Modern visitors to Ithaca,
encouraged by imperialist or Orientalist ideology, portray Ithaca as failing
to measure up to the Homeric Ithaca of their classical education. The
Odyssey thus not only expresses anxiety about the status of Ithaca in
antiquity but itself becomes a contested object of cultural ownership in
the modern world.
besides recounting Odysseus's return to Ithaca, provides an ambiguous
ethnography of lthaca. Although the epic celebrates the hero's defeat of
Penelope's suitors, it hints that the island's economic and political power
in its region is less than expected. Other ancient tales about Odysseus
depict Ithaca as vulnerable, and some legends seemingly co-opt the hero
by narrating his departure from Ithaca forever. Modern visitors to Ithaca,
encouraged by imperialist or Orientalist ideology, portray Ithaca as failing
to measure up to the Homeric Ithaca of their classical education. The
Odyssey thus not only expresses anxiety about the status of Ithaca in
antiquity but itself becomes a contested object of cultural ownership in
the modern world.
Online at Cahiers des etudes anciennes LIII 2016: Katabasis issue
from Omero: Quaestiones Disputatae, ed. F. Gallo, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, 2016
from Philologia Antiqua, ed. G. Scafoglio, Studies on the Greek Epic Cycle, vol. , 2016
Research Interests:
The injustice of the slaughter of the suitors, from an against-the-grain perspective.
Research Interests: Homer and Homer's Odyssey
Exploration of rhapsodic performance of cyclic verse in accordance with notional concepts of the Trojan cycle, with analogy to cyclical iconography .
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CJ January 2015:1-2
Research Interests: Homer and Greek Epic
formulaic intertext between Homeric and cyclic epic
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Frazier's Cold Mountain as reception of the Odyssey, from a socio-economic comparative perspective
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The fluidity of myth and history in antiquity and the ensuing rapidity with which these notions infiltrated and cross-fertilized one another has repeatedly attracted the scholarly interest. The understanding of myth as a phenomenon... more
The fluidity of myth and history in antiquity and the ensuing rapidity with which these notions infiltrated and cross-fertilized one another has repeatedly attracted the scholarly interest. The understanding of myth as a phenomenon imbued with social and historical nuances allows for more than one methodological approaches. Within the wider context of interdisciplinary exchange of ideas, the present volume returns to origins, as it traces and registers the association and interaction between myth and history in various literary genres in Greek and Roman antiquity (i.e. an era when the scientific definitions of and distinctions between myth and history had not yet been perceived as such, let alone fully shaped and implemented), providing original ideas, new interpretations and (re)evaluations of key texts and less well-known passages, close readings, and catholic overviews. The twenty-four chapters of this volume expand from Greek epos to lyric poetry, historiography, dramatic poetry and even beyond, to genres of Roman era and late antiquity. It is the editors’ hope that this volume will appeal to students and academic researchers in the areas of classics, social and political history, archaeology, and even social anthropology.
• new perspectives and interpretations of the interactions between myth and history in Greek and Roman antiquity
• analysis of Greek and Latin texts of cross-generic array
• synchronic and diachronic approach of primary material
• new perspectives and interpretations of the interactions between myth and history in Greek and Roman antiquity
• analysis of Greek and Latin texts of cross-generic array
• synchronic and diachronic approach of primary material
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Introductory book on Homer....
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Burgess, ed., YAGE vol. 3: table of contents, Introduction p. 1