INDEX

A

Abrahams, Roger, 54 , 71

abstraction, philosophical, 93 , 100

Abu Zayd. See under Arabic epic

academic interest in Indian epic, 144 , 145 -47

achievement, affective cost of, 192 -93, 216 -17

Achilles:

funeral, 205 -6;

laments for Patroclus, 206 , 207 , 210 -12, 213 ;

shares grief with Priam, 191 -92, 193 , 212

Acis, 104 n. 54

Actaeon, 101 n. 20

Adler, Mortimer, 239

Aeneas:

destabilization, 95 ;

and Dido, 97 -100, 114 , 197 -98, 224 ;

displacement, 109 , 113 , 116 ;

dream-vision of Hector, 94 ;

in Hades, 191 , 195 , 197 -98;

and lineage and paternity, 287 ;

and universal/local tendencies, 109 , 116 -17

Aesop, fables of, 41

aetiology. See origin tales; origins

Africa, 23 , 24 , 274 -79, 289 n. 21

Ahir caste, 136

Ahl, Frederick M., 90 , 231

ainos (riddling discourse), 34 -35, 39 -40, 40 -42

Akashvani (All India Radio), 144 -45

akhos ("grief"), Homeric use, 23

Alcaeus, 49 n. 46

Alcmaeon of Croton, 47 n. 16

Alecsandri, Vasile; Dumbrava rosie (The red oak grove), 71 , 80 , 81

Aletes, 228

aletheia/muthos opposition, 26

Alexandrian scholarship, 45

Alexiou, Margaret, 204 , 221

Alha Kand (Indian epic), 132 , 149 n. 17

alienation. See displacement

Allecto (Fury), 94 -95, 97 , 98 , 124

allegory and allegoresis, 10 , 14 , 33 -53, 89 -107;

ainos, 34 -35, 39 -40, 40 -42;

allegoria, 38 , 40 ;

Derveni papyrus, 33 , 39 -40;

and elitism, 41 , 42 , 43 -44, 44 -45, 119 -20;

and etymology, 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ;

and fables, 41 ;

and fixation, 89 , 99 -100;

Hesiod, 36 ;

Homeric allegoresis, 34 , 35 -38, 42 , 43 , 45 , 92 , 283 ;

huponoia, 38 -39, 40 , 45 ;

early Italian, 33 -53;

Latin epic, 45 , 90 , 95 -97;

lexical evidence, 38 -42;

and metamorphosis, 92, 98 , 267 n. 34;

origins, 35 -38;

personification allegory, 89 , 95 -97;

pre-Socratics, 33 , 39 -40;

as social performance, 46 ;

Spenser, 45 , 257 -58;

subversive function, 14 ;

Theagenes, 34 , 35 -38, 42 , 45 ;

uses, 42 -46

All India Radio (Akashvani), 144 -45

allusion, 90

Amata, 197 , 224

ambiguity, verbal, 10 , 12 , 56 , 103 n. 40.

See also punning; wordplay

American Indians. See Native American oral tradition

Amiternum, relief of funeral, 225

analogy, 109 , 283

Anaximander the Younger, 39

ancestors, 173 , 177 , 286 -87

Anchises, 115

Anderson, Benedict, 70

Anderson, Walter S., 91 249

Andromache laments for Hector:

in anticipation of death, 208 , 209, 212 -14, 223 , 226 ;

after death, 206 , 207 , 208 , 209 , 215 -17

anger as response to grief, 228 , 230 , 231

animism, 120

anonymity of epic authorship, 7

anthropologies of Latin epic, and metamorphosis, 91 -95

anthropomorphism of gods, 267 n. 29

Antigone, 230

Antikleia, 191 , 195

Antilochos, 191

Antonius, Marcus, 228

aphoristic songs, 160

Apollo, 245 -48

Apollonius Rhodius, 9

apotheosis, 102 n. 29, 113 , 114

Arabic epic (Sirat Ban Hilal ) 11 , 54 -68, 155 -68;

addressing of audience, 156 , 163 -64, 165 , 166 ;

audience participation, 156 , 164 -66;

auxiliary elements of performance, 12 , 156 , 158 -63, 166 ;

auxiliary genres, 166 ;

chapbook publications, 157 ;

described, 156 -58;

disguise, 57 -58, 60 , 63 , 64 , 65 ;

framing devices, 160 -63, 166 ;

hero, Abu Zayd, 55 -56;

hitat baladi genre, 165 ;

on honor, 59 , 60 , 61 ;

musical interludes, 158 -59, 161 , 162 ;

narrative structures, 156 , 163 -64, 166 ;

Nile Delta tradition, 33 -34, 155 -68;

outcast status of poets, 8 , 13 , 55 , 60 , 157 ;

pan-Arab appropriation, 157 ;

performance types, 157 -58;

performative context, 11 , 33 -34;

plot, 55 -56, 59 -65, 156 -58;

punning, 13 , 55 , 56 -57, 58 -59, 60 -61, 63 -64, 65 , 67 ;

recordings, audio and video, 157 ;

trickery, 57 -59, 65 , 67 ;

Upper Egyptian tradition, 54 -68

Arausio, battle of, 228

Archilochus, fables of, 41

Arginusae, battle of, 228

Ariosto, Ludovico, 4 , 111 , 118 , 198 ;

and Tasso, 122 , 124

aristocracy and allegoresis, 41 -42, 43 -44

Aristotle:

on ainos, 41 , 48 -49 n. 43;

concept of epic, 26 -27, 28 ;

on epic as tragedy, 193 , 201 -2 n. 11;

and genre theory, 21 ;

résumé of defenses of Homer, 37 ;

on tears of epic, 15 ;

theory of poetry, 45

Arjuna, 170 , 171 , 173 , 174 , 180

Armida, 119 , 120 , 199 -200

Asia, central, 23 , 160

asides, 163 , 164 , 276

Astyanax, 215 , 216

Atalanta, 229

Athene, 96

Athens:

epic recitals, 27 , 44 , 45 , 289 n. 24;

Peisistratids, 43 , 289 n. 24;

public funeral orations, 205 , 233 n. 24;

Solon's laws on women's laments, 205

Atlas, 89 , 99 -100

audience, 6 , 7 ;

analogy makes epic more immediate to, 109 ;

asides addressed to, 163 , 164 , 276 ;

participation in performance, 14 -15, 156 , 159 , 164 -66;

poet addresses by manipulating content of epic, 164 , 165 , 276 ;

share in epic grief, 193

Auerbach, Erich, 279

Augustine, St., 197

Augustus (Octavian), 112 , 113 , 114 , 247

Austin ,J. L., 22

authority, 14 , 87 -151;

characteristic of classical epic, 7 , 279 ;

epic as authoritative speech-act, 25 -26, 160 ;

lament and issues of, 15 ;

of oral tradition, 244 ;

and origin tales, 244 , 252 -53;

Walcott and, 273 , 282 -83, 287 ;

writing down of epic privileges particular version, 240 .

auxiliary elements in Egyptian performance, 156 , 158 -63, 166

'Awadallah 'Abd al-Jalil 'Ali (Egyptian poet), 55

Awadhi dialect, 135 , 136 , 143

Ayodhya, India, 171

B

Babylonian, Old; Gilgamesh,193 -94

Badarinath, India, 172

al-Bakatush, Egypt, 157 -58

Bakhtin, Mikhail, 4 -5, 6 , 21, 28 , 273 , 279

Balkan Christian epic, 12 , 69 -86;

definition, 70 ;

and gender, 12 , 13 , 69 , 70 , 79 , 80 -82;

literary epic, 71 , 73 -82;

and nationalism, 12 , 13 , 70 -71, 74 -75, 79 , 80 , 81

oral epic

69 , 71 -73, 79 , 81 -82;

women's roles, 72 -73, 75 -78, 81

Balkan Muslim epic, 82 n. 2.

See also Slavs, South

Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, India, 143

Barkan, Leonard, 91 , 264 -65 n. 13

Barthes, Roland, 57

bas git (Indian narrative performance tradition), 149 n. 20

basmalah as introduction to performance, 158

Bate, Jonathan, 91

Bathua, 134 , 138 -39, 140 , 142

Bawan Bir, 143 -44

bazaar pamphlets, Indian, 137

Beissinger, Margaret, 13 , 69 -86, 164

Bellamy, Elizabeth, 242 , 257

Benjamin, Walter, 4 , 5 -7

Beowulf, 109 , 192

Bhagavadgita,171

Bharata lineage, 170

Bhima, 170 , 173

Bhojpuri dialect, 135

bird transformations, 94 , 242 -43, 248 -53, 264 n. 12

Bisar Katha (blacksmith, of Himachal Pradesh), 180

bleeding:

in Tasso, 118 -19, 120 , 121 -23, 124 ;

in Virgil, 15 -17

blindness, 288 n. 13

Bloom, Harold, 9 , 287 , 291 n. 37

Bosnia-Hercegovina, 82 n. 2

boundaries, 11 -12;

audience/performer, 156 , 163 -64, 164 -66;

auxiliary performance elements/epic, 156 , 158 -63;

of genre, 11 -12, 14 -15, 115 ;

geographical and social, of Indian epic, 132 -33;

god-man-beast, 91 -95, 102 n. 29, 172 ;

laments and tears cross, 23 , 195 , 205 ;

of language, 11 -12, 271 -72;

metamorphosis and transgression of, 91 -92, 265 n. 13;

performance, 14 -15, 155 ;

puns cross, 56

Bowra, C. Maurice, 274 -75

Brathwaite, Edward, 288 -89 n. 17

"Brer Rabbit" stories, 240 , 243 -44

bride-price, Indian, 175 , 176

Briseis, 206 , 207 , 208 , 216

broadcasting, performance context, 145 , 147 , 148 .

See also cinema; radio; television

Brutus, Lucius, 222 -23

Buffalo Soldiers, United States Ninth Cavalry, 286

Bulgaria, 71, 79 -80, 82 n. 2

Burris, Sidney, 272 -73, 283 , 289 -90 n. 29

Byblis, 242 , 250

C

Caepio, Servilius, 228

Caieta, 242

Callimachus, 9 , 242

Callisto, 101 n. 20

Camilla, 225 -26

Camões, Luis de, 4 , 284

Candaini epic, 131 -51;

academic interest, 144 , 145 -47;

bazaar pamphlets, 137 ;

and caste concerns, 135 -37, 139 , 144 , 147 ;

Chhattisgarh versions, 137 -44;

and cinema, 139 , 146 , 147 ;

episodic performances, 133 -34;

and gender issues, 14 , 137 -38, 139 -40, 140 -43, 144 ;

media performances, 144 -45, 147 , 148 ;

musical accompaniment, 138 ;

"new" performance contexts, 144 -48;

performance styles, git and naca,138 -40, 143 , 147 ;

and regional identity, 131 -32, 132 -33, 134 -35, 137 -44, 147 ;

story, 133 -35;

Uttar Pradesh versions, 132 , 134 -35, 139 -40, 142 -43, 144 , 147 ;

and warrior ethos, 135 -37;

women performers, 139 -40, 145

Cannae, battle of, 223

canon, 6 , 14 , 27 ;

local variants fixed in, 289 n. 24

Capitoline Hill, 113

Caraveli-Chaves, Anna, 204

Caribbean, 16 .

See also Walcott, Derek

Carthage. See Dido and Aeneas

cassettes, recording, 144

caste, 135 -37, 139 , 144 , 147

Catholic church, 110 , 117 , 120

Cato, M. Porcius the Younger, 223

cause. See origins

chapbooks, Sirat Bani Hilal , 157

Charlemagne, 192

Chaucer, Geoffrey, 257 -58

Chhattisgarh, India. See Candaini epic

Chicago, University of, 239

Chios, 45

Chitrakut, India, 171

Christianity, 4 ;

and metamorphosis, 123 , 259 , 267 n. 34;

and tears, 197 , 198 , 199

Christ's bleeding body, Tasso on, 118 -19, 122 , 124

Churchill Falls Hydro Project, 266 n. 24

Cicero, M. Tullius, 48 n. 22, 90

cinema, Hindi, 139 , 146 , 147

Circe, 90 , 92 , 94

civil wars, Roman, 111 -12

Cleopatra, wife of Meleager, 209

Clorinda, 121 -23

closure, 7 , 191 -92, 222 , 226 , 244 , 252

Cole, Thomas, 41

collections of oral poetry, Balkan, 69 , 70 , 71 -72, 79

collective authorship, 7

collective voice, 9

colonialism, 1 , 244 -45, 259 -60, 273 -74, 280 , 285 -86

Columbia University, 239

comedy, 27 , 165

community:

as denied participation in epic, 4 ;

epic as product of, 5 -6, 7 ;

epic focus on deeds significant to, 2 , 109 , 131 ;

self-identity, 183 n. 11

comparative studies, 5 , 23 -24, 274 .

See also specific nationalities

complaint, in women's lament, 225

complementarity principle, and genre, 24 -25, 27 , 28 , 131

composition:

oral and literary processes, 7 -9, 74 ;

and performance, 21 -2

confession, 199

conquestio (forensic genre), 222

consolationes, Statius', 233 n. 18

contemporaneity and epic, 4 -7

content of epic, traditional nature of, 7

context:

historical, 24 ;

performance, 3 , 144 , 145 , 147 -48, 158

cosmopolitan/local tensions. See local culture

cost of achievement, affective, 192 -93, 216 -17

Counter-Reformation, 110 , 117 , 123

Crates of Mallos, 45

Crenaeus, 229

Creole languages of St. Lucia, 272 , 273 -4

Creon, 230 -31

Crete, 114

Croatia, 71 , 72 , 79

Culler, Jonathan, 56

cult:

of epic villains, in Himalayas, 169 , 175 -82;

local, reflected in epic, 108 -30;

in return stories, 109 -10;

in Tasso, 11 , 14 , 117 -25;

in Virgil, 11 , 14 , 111 -17

cultural studies, 6

curse, mother's, 72 , 77 -78

Cyparissus, Ovid's story of, 242

D

Dabar Singh, 173

dance:

experience of participation in ritual, 173 ;

in Indian naca, dance-drama, 138 , 139 -40

Danforth, Loring, 204 , 221

Dante Alighieri:

communal Italian poetic legacy, 118 ;

and death by water, 291 n. 37;

exile and estrangement in, 9 ;

on metamorphosis, 259 , 267 n. 34;

parody of Christian mysteries, 127 -28 n. 30;

and Tasso, 122 , 124 ;

tears in, 199

Daphne, 242 , 245 -48, 258 , 259

Daphnis, Virgil's lament for, 111 -12

Darius I, King of Persia, 43

death:

in origin tales, 244 ;

social, after death of male head of household, 215 ;

by water, 290 -91 n. 37;

women's role in rites, 75 -76.

See also lament

definition of epic, 2 , 23 , 24 , 109 , 279 -80

de Man, Paul, 90 -91

Demetrius, On Style,48 n. 22

Demodocus, 9

demons in Latin epic, 98

Derveni papyrus, 39 -40, 45 , 49 n. 47

Devlal (Indian epic singer), 146

Dhamtari, India, 145

Dhola-Maru epic tradition, 131 -32

Dhritarashtra, 170

dialectal variants, intercultural, 284 -85

dialogue:

audience, in Arabic epic performances, 165 -66;

epic as dialogic genre, 279 -87

dianoia (poet's apparent intention), 39

dichotomy and indeterminacy, 270 -71

dicing games, 142

Dido and Aeneas, 97 -100, 114 , 197 -98, 224 , 226

Dionysia, City (Athenian festival), 27

Dionysius the Younger of Syracuse, 42

disguise:

Odysseus', 93 ;

in Sirat Bani Hilal,57 -58, 63 , 64 , 65 , 60 ;

Venus', in Aeneid,104 n. 41

displacement, 9 ;

of Aeneas, 95 , 109 , 110 , 113 -14, 116 ;

of local gods, 112 -13, 113 -14, 115 ;

in Tasso, 117 ;

in Virgil's First Eclogue,112 -13;

women's 208 , 218 n. 21

distance, epic as based on, 4

Draupadi, 170 , 173 , 175

Dubio, Fra, 259 , 260

Duhshasana, 170 , 176

duplicity. See disguise; trickery

Duryodhana, 170 ; cult 176 -77, 178 -82

Dyora village, Garhwal, India, 176

E

Egypt. See Arabic epic

eidos ("form," "genre"), 29 n. 22

elementa ("elements," "letters"), 90

Eliot, T. S., 108 , 110 , 291 n. 37

elitism:

and allegory, 41 , 42 , 44 -4;

Bakhtin's, 4 -5;

of literary epic, 4 , 110 , 111 ;

and performative context, 13 ;

secret language and, 61 -62;

Tasso's, 4 , 110 , 111 , 117 , 124 -25;

Virgil's 110 , 111

Elizabethan era, 259 -60

embedded passages:

epic performances within epic, 14 , 22 , 23 , 25 , 165 , 190 , 206 -7, 276 ;

oral literary genres in Balkan literary epic, 74

Enloe, Cynthia, 78 , 81

Ennius, 222

entertainment, epic sung for, 135

Envy, Ovid's personification allegory, 96 , 97

epe (Aristotle's term for "epic"), 26

epea pteroenta (Homeric "winged words"), 26

epic. See specific aspects throughout index

Epic Cycle, 27

episodes, epics performed in, 133 -34, 174

epitaphios logos (Athenian public funeral oration), 205 , 233 n. 24

epos/muthos distinction (unmarked/ marked, ordinary/special speech acts), 25 -26

Erisychthon, Ovid on, 96 -97, 103 n. 37

estrangement. See displacement

Ethiopia, 274

ethnic culture, fashion for, 144

etymology and allegoresis, 35 , 36 , 37 , 38

Eumaeus, 41 , 196 , 254

Eurocentricism, 16 , 273 -74

Europe, Eastern, 23 .

See also Balkan Christian epic

Euryalus, mother's lament for, 224 -25

Evander, 113 , 225 , 230 -31

exile. See displacement

F

fables, 41

falsehood and truth, 26 , 99

Fame, fama, 96 , 97 -100

Fames. See Hunger

family:

epic performances at celebrations, 139 , 158 ;

epic poets' art passed down through, 8 , 73 , 157 ;

glory, kleos, transmitted through 214 , 215

Fantham, Elaine, 11 , 12 , 15 , 204 , 221 -35

Farrell, Joseph, 12 , 15 , 270 -96

fathers, 287 .

See also Priam

Faunus, cult of, 114 , 115

Feeney, Denis, 36 , 91 , 97 , 265 n. 16, 267 n. 29

Feld, Stephen, 208

feminist perspectives, 6 , 11 , 204 .

See also gender; women

festivals, epic performed at: Egypt, 158 ;

Greece, ancient, 27 , 44 , 45 ;

India 135 , 140 , 144 , 145 , 149 n. 30

fiction:

in lament, 207 ;

in origin tales, 244 ;

truth and, 26 , 99

Figueroa, John, 272 , 273 , 283

figurative language, 10 , 90 -91.

See also allegory; metaphor; simile

Finland, Kalevala,194

Finnegan, Ruth, 275

first-person utterance, 160

fixity and fixation:

allegory and, 89 , 99 -100;

denial of epic fixity, 285 ;

of oral tradition by writing, 275 , 289 n. 24;

and metamorphosis, 91 , 99 -100, 264 -65 n. 13

Flaubert, Gustave, 196

flowers, aetiology of 242

Flueckiger, Joyce Burkhalter, 11 , 12 , 14 , 131 -51

Foley, Helene, 221

folklore, 5 , 70 -71;

Indian, 136 , 144 -45

Ford, Andrew, 12 , 13 , 33 -53

forensic rhetoric, 222

formulas, 5

framing devices, 160 -63, 166

Franciscan friars, 120

Frazer, James George: The Golden Bough,3

Freud, Sigmund, 115 , 256

full-version performances, 133 , 146 , 158

funerals, 205 -6, 225 , 233 n. 24

Fury. See Allecto

G

Galinsky, Karl, 116

Garh Rivan, India, 137

Garhwal, India, 172 ;

cult of Kauravas, 175 -82;

Mahabharata in, 171 -75;

pandav lila ritual performance, 172 -74

gaura (Indian festival), 149 n. 30

gender:

destabilization of categories, 11 -12, 14

and nationalism 13 , 80 , 81 .

See also women

genre, 12 , 21 -29;

Aristotle and theory of, 21 ;

boundaries, 11 -12, 14 -15, 155 ;

complementarity principle, 24 -25, 27 , 28 , 131 ;

definition, 22 , 131 ;

epic as, 12 , 21 -29, 131 ;

occasion equated with, 23 ;

of Walcott's Omeros,272 -87

Ghajar ("Gypsies", Egyptian), 157

Giants, 93

Gilgamesh, 193 -94

git (Indian performance style, 138 -39, 140

glory, 232 .

See also kleos

gods:

allegoresis of battles, 34 , 35 -38, 43 , 283 ;

anthropomorphism, 267 n. 29;

and causation, 240 -41, 253 -57;

god-man category boundaries, 91 -95, 102 n. 29, 172 ;

Olympian, and universality, 109 .

See also cult and specific gods

Goffredo (Tasso's hero), 110 , 119 -20, 123 , 124

good and evil, in Mahabharata,171

goos (lament), 205 -6

Greece:

idea of epic, 24 , 27 ;

lament in modern rural, 204 , 221 .

See also specific authors

Greene, Thomas M., 15 , 189 -202

grief:

ambivalence to, Virgil's, 197 , 198 ;

anger as response to, 228 , 230 , 231 ;

magic rejected as solace, 194 -95;

outweighs glory in Statius, 232 ;

outweighs praise in lament, 204 ;

parents', for child, 212 ;

sharing, 193 , 195 .

See also lament

Grill (character in Spenser), 259

guilds, Greek rhapsodes', 45

guilt, 197 , 198 , 199

Gypsies, 8 , 55 , 157

H

Hades, 191 , 195 , 197 -98

hagiography, Italian popular, 118

halaba (epic-singers of Nile Delta), 157

Hamner, Robert, 272

Hampton, Timothy, 117

handal, 56 , 59 -65

Hardie, Philip, 12 , 14 , 89 -107

Harpies, island of the, 114

Harris, Joel Chandler:

Uncle Remus stories, 240 , 243 -44

hawk and nightingale, Hesiod's tale of, 41

Hector, 94 , 205 , 206 , 207 , 212 -14

Hecuba, 208 , 209 , 210 , 212 , 214 -15

Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 279

Helen:

in Iliad, 207 , 208 -9, 210 ;

in Odyssey,191

helpers, female, Balkan Christian epic, 72 , 81

Henderson, John, 226 -27

Hera:

allegorical equation with "air," 35 , 36 , 37 , 38

Heraclitus, 36 , 44 , 49 nn. 52-53

Heraclitus the Rhetor, 49 n. 58

Herder, Johann Gottfried von, 5 , 70

hereditary status of epic singers, 8 , 73 , 157

Herington, John, 190

Hermaphrodite, 242

Herodotus, 43 , 201 n. 2

heroes:

epic performers in own right, 165 ;

poet's identification with, 163

heroic ethos:

lament subverts, 11 , 12 , 15 , 203 , 204 , 212 , 214 -17, 232 .

See also kleos

Hesiod, 36 , 41 , 44 , 99

high and low literature, 108 -9, 110 -11

Hilal tribe, Sirat Bani Hilal. See Arabic epic

Hinduism:

Brahminic, 135

(see also caste);

cult of epic villains, 169 , 175 -82;

divine incarnation in, 172

historic basis of epics, 196

hitat baladi (Arabic comic routine), 165

Holst-Warhaft, Gail, 204 , 221

Homer:

Africa epic compared, 275 -76;

allegoresis, 34 , 35 -38, 42 , 43 , 45 , 92 , 283 ;

asides, 276 ;

breadth of appeal, 44 , 111 ;

concept and reception in ancient Greece, 26 -27, 28 ;

festival recitals, 27 , 44 , 45 ;

formulas, 5 ;

incorporation of performances within epic, 14 , 22 , 23 , 25 , 190 , 206 -7, 276 ;

inimitability, 5 , 9 ;

lament, 205 -17;

marginalization of poet, 9 ;

monologism, closure, authority: Bakhtin's terms, 7

name play, 36 , 38 ;

orality, 5 , 276 ;

performance, 22 , 23 , 189 -90;

as prototypical epic poet, 5 , 21 ;

scholiasts, 35 , 36 -37;

similes, 109

textual canon, 27 , 275 , 289 n. 24;

transformations, 91 -92;

Walcott and, 272 , 276 , 280 -81, 281 -82;

weeping at performances, 189 -90;

weeping in epics, 90 -91.

Iliad:

on ancestry, 287

battles of gods, 34 , 35 -38, 43 , 283 ;

embedded epic performances, 206 -7;

ending, 242 ;

framing, 162 -63;

funerals, 205 -6;

lament, 15 , 205 -6, 222

(see also Achilles; Andromache; Briseis; Hector; Hecuba; Helen; Patroclus);

lamentlike language, 209 -10;

local variants, 289 n. 24;

as prototypical epic, 5 ;

tears, 191 -92. 206 -7.

Odyssey:

aetiological story, 263 -55;

break between

mythic adventures and account of return, 254 ;

epic performances embedded in, 9 , 14 , 22 , 23 , 190 , 276 ;

Eumaeus episode, 41 , 196 , 254 ;

and local culture, 109 ;

and magic, 254 -55;

manipulation of content of poem to address audience, 276 ;

novellike nature, 28 ;

Odysseus' and Telemachus' relationship, 287 ;

Phaeacian episode, 14 , 99 , 207 , 253 -55, 276 ;

Sirens, 194 ;

Tiresias prophesies of Odysseus' death, 290 -91 n. 37;

transformations, 92 , 93 , 100 ;

weeping in, 190 , 191 , 206 -7.

See also specific characters

honor:

Indian concepts, 4 , 134 , 136 , 141 , 142 -44, 174 ;

rape and politics, of 78 , 79 ;

women's, attitudes to:

Arabic, 59 , 60 , 61 ;

Balkan, 78 , 79 ;

Indian, 136 , 141 , 142 -43

humor in epic, 163 , 164 , 275 -76

Hunger, Ovid's personification of, 95 , 96 , 97 , 103 n. 37

huponoia ("allegory"), 38 -39, 40 , 45

Hyacinthus, Ovid on, 91 , 242

hyperbole, 98

Hypsipyle, 228 , 229

I

Iarbas, 98 , 99

Icelos, 96

Ide, 228

idealization:

of characters, 135 ;

of culture and form, 3

identity, epic and, 131 , 132 , 183 n. 11.

See also caste; regional identity

Igor's Raid,192

image, concern of epic with, 12

immutatio (Ciceronian term), 90

imperialism:

Roman, 112 , 113 , 114 , 246 , 247 , 257 ;

Walcott and European, 273 , 280 , 285 -86

See also colonialism

incarnation:

in Hinduism, 172 ;

language of, in Tasso, 122 , 123

incest in origin tales, 244 , 251

inclusiveness of epic, 2 -3, 28 -29

incorporation of performances within epic, 14 , 22 , 23 , 25 , 165 , 190 , 206 -7, 276

indeterminacy, racial and cultural, 270 -71, 271 -72, 287

India, 23 , 131 -51, 169 -86;

academic interest in epic, 144 , 145 -47;

Alha Kand, 132 , 149 n. 17;

cinema, 139 , 146 , 147 ;

cult of epic villains (see Kauravas);

Dhola-Maru epic tradition, 131 -32;

ethnic fashion, 144 ;

festivals, 135 , 140 , 145 , 149 n. 30;

folklore, 136 , 144 -45;

gender issues, 14 , 137 -38, 139 -40, 140 -43, 144 ;

honor, 134 , 136 , 141 , 142 -44, 174 ;

marriage customs, 144 , 175 , 176 ;

martial ethos, 135 -37, 170 -71, 173 , 174 , 175 , 177 ;

media performances, 140 , 144 -48;

nationalism, 14 ;

Pandvani epic tradition, 133 , 140 ;

places of pilgrimage, 171 , 172 ;

regional identity, 12 , 131 -32, 134 -35, 137 -44, 147 ;

theatre, 145 -47;

warrior ethos, 135 -37, 170 -71, 172 -73, 174 , 175 , 177 .

Women :

epic performers, 139 -40, 145 ;

status, 14 , 135 -36, 136 -37, 137 -38, 140 -43.

See also caste

individualism, 9

Indraprastha, India, 171

inimitability, 5 , 9

innovation, 6 , 283 -84

intention, poet's apparent (dianoia ), 39

inversion of norms, 281 -82, 283 -84

invidia ("resentment," "Envy"), 96 , 222 , 223

invocation; personal/impersonal, 9 ;

Walcott subverts, 282 -83

Io, story of, 94 -95, 101 n. 20

Iopas, 100

Iran:

Shahnama 192

Ireland, Spenser on, 259 -60

irony, 283 -84

Irving, Forbes, 100 -101 n. 8

Islam, Tasso on, 117 , 118 , 120 , 121 , 124

Ismeno, 121

Ismond, Patricia, 272

Italy:

allegoresis in early, 13 , 33 -53;

popular hagiography, 118 .

See also specific authors

Itys, 249

Iulus, 115

J

Jakh village, India, 173

Jakhol village, India, 176 , 178 -81

Jammasa tribe of Upper Egypt, 59 -60

Jerusalem, 117 , 118 -19

Johar, 63 , 64 , 65

Johnson, John William, 275

Joyce, James:

Ulysses, 272 -73

Julius Caesar, 114 , 115

Jupiter, 93 , 99 , 103 n. 40

Juturna, 197 , 226 , 246

K

Kalevala, 194

Kambili, 275 -76

Kaphalori village, India, 173

Karadzic, Vuk Stefanovic ("Vuk"), 71 -72, 73 , 74 -75, 79

Karan, Raja ("King Karna"), 175 -76, 177 , 178 , 179 , 182

Karna, 169 -70;

cult of, 175 -76, 177 , 178 , 179 , 182

Kaurava brothers, 169 , 170 , 177 ;

cults of, 169 , 175 -82

Kazantzakis, Nikos, 291 n. 37

Kenney, E.J., 247

Khadra Sharifa ("Khadra the Noble"), 55 -56, 58 -59, 65 , 161 -62

Khatfa, 56

al-Khidr, 63 -64

kings, allegory used to address, 41 , 42 -43

Kipling, Rudyard:

"How the Elephant Got His Trunk," 240 , 243 , 244 -45

kleos ("praise," "glory"):

lament subverts, 11 , 12 , 15 , 203 , 204 , 212 , 214 -17, 232 ;

male concern with in laments, 204 , 211 , 213 -14;

transmission between father and son, 214 , 215

Klossowski, Pierre, 111

Knox, Bernard, 272

Koljevic, Svetozar, 71 -72

Krishna, 136 , 170 , 171

Kshatriyas (Indian warrior class), 170 , 173 , 174

Kula Singh, of Jakhol, India, 178

Kurukshetra, India, 171

L

Labrador Indian oral tradition 12 , 242 -43, 251 -53, 261 -63;

pedagogic value, 16 , 239 -40

Lakha Mandal, India, 172

lament, 3 , 5 , 15 , 187 -235;

and action, 23 , 205 , 228 ;

agonistic, 209 ;

akhos and penthos indicate ritual songs of, 23 ;

anticipatory, 206 , 208 , 209 , 210 , 212 -14, 223 , 226 ;

Ennius, 222 ;

and epic, 274 -75;

and fama, 98 ;

feminist studies 11 , 204 ;

fictitious, hoped-for events in, 207 ;

and genre boundaries, 12 ;

Greek modern rural, 204 , 221 ;

heroic ethos, kleos:

emphasized in men's lament, 204 , 211 , 213 -14;

subverted by women's, 11 , 12 , 15 , 203 , 204 , 212 , 214 -17, 232 ;

in Homer, 15 , 205 -17, 222

(see also under Achilles; Andromache; Briseis; Hector; Patroclus);

in Latin epic, 12 , 204 , 221 -35;

Lucan 222 -23;

men's, 210 -12, 230 -31;

men's use of conventions of, 212 -14;

mourner as responsible for death he mourns, 210 -11;

oral, incorporated in Balkan literary epic, 74 ;

as oral tradition, 15 , 204 ;

parents', for children, 212 , 224 -25, 229 -30;

(see also Hecuba; Priam);

praise in, 204 ;

public communal, 222 -23;

in Renaissance epic, 233 n. 14;

resolution through, 222 , 226 ;

and revenge 211 , 222 , 225 , 228 , 229 ;

and stability of community, 7 ;

Statius, 232 ;

transfer of suffering to others, 211 ;

Virgil, 223 -26, 284 ;

Virgin Mary's, 233 n. 14;

women's, 3 , 12 , 221 :

agonistic 209 ;

in Balkan epic, 75 -76, 77 , 81 ;

concern for own sufferings, 206 , 208 -9, 214 -17, 230 ;

Greek legal and literary responses to, 204 -5;

in Homer, 191 , 203 -22;

professional mourners, 225 ;

subversive of heroic ethos, 11 , 12 , 15 , 203 , 204 , 212 , 214 -17, 232 ;

women's voices heard through, 204 , 207 -9, 231

landscape, aetiology of, 242 , 245 -48, 255

language:

ambiguity, 12 , 56 , 103 n. 40

(see also punning);

crossing boundaries of, 11 -12, 271 -72;

of incarnation, 122 , 123 ;

secret, 61 -62;

of transformation, 90, 94 -95, 96 , 98

Latinus, King, 114 , 224 , 226

Latium, local cults of, 113 , 114 -17

laudatio (funeral eulogy), 233 n. 24

laughter, 58 , 59

laurel. See Daphne

Lavinia, 114 , 197 , 224

Lavinium, 116

law on women's laments, Greek, 204 -5

Lefkowitz, Mary, 272

lila (Egyptian social gathering), 158

Lévi-Strauss, Claude, 54

lineage, 286 -87

linearity of epic, supposed, 242

linguistic turn in Ovid, 90 -91

literacy, 12 , 13 , 15 ;

epic tradition as more than written work, 174 -75

fixing of oral tradition in writing, 13 , 157 , 240 , 275 ;

Walcott and scribal culture, 276 -77, 278 , 279 , 291 n. 40.

See also literary epic; orality

literary epic, 9 -11;

ambiguity, 12 ;

Balkan Christian, 69 , 70 , 71 , 73 -82;

composition processes, 7 -9;

and nationalism, 12 , 13 , 70 -71, 74 -75, 79 , 80 , 81 ;

oral epic as inspiration for, 79 ;

oral genres embedded in, 74 ;

transition from oral epic, 15 , 196 -97;

women in, 12 , 13 , 69 , 70 , 75 -78, 79 , 80 -82.

See also specific authors

literature, high and low, 108 -9, 110 -111

Livy, 223

local culture, 11 -12, 14 , 108 -30;

and universal, 7 , 11 , 14 , 108 -30;

and variants in epic, 171 , 289 n. 24

(see also Candaini epic: Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh versions);

in Virgil, 11 , 10 , 113 , 114 -17, 246 .

See also cult, local

"Loon, The First" (Labrador Indian tale), 242 -43, 244 , 251 -52

Loraux, Nicole, 221

Lord, Albert, 5 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 72

Lorik, 134 , 136 -37, 139 , 140 -41, 142 , 143

Lucan, 122 , 222 -23

Lucretius, 91 , 102 n. 26, 103 n. 40, 241 , 257

Lukacs, Gyorgy, 6 , 279

lusus Troiae,242

Lycaon, 91 , 93 , 95

Lycurgus, 27

lyric poetry:

mawwal genre,159 -60, 161 , 162 ;

threnos genre, 206

M

Mazuranic, Ivan:

Smrt Smail-Age Cuengica (The Death of Smail-Aga Cuengic ) 71 , 79 , 81

Machaon, 289 -90 n. 29

madih (song of praise to Prophet), 159 , 161 , 162

Maeon (in Statius), 227

magic, 90 , 194 -95, 254 -55

magical etymology, 37 -38

Mahabharata,169 -86;

cult of villains, Kauravas, 175 -82;

as epic tradition, 169 , 174 -75;

in Garhwal, 171 -75;

good and evil as theme, 171 ;

as "history," 173 ;

and martial ethos, 170 -71, 173 , 174 , 175 , 179 ;

origin stories, 172 ;

Pandvani tradition, 133 , 140 ;

places associated with, 171 -72;

summary, 169 -71

makarismos, 233 n. 24

Malbecco, 96 -97, 259

Mande hunter songs, 160

Manjari, 134

marginalization of epic poet, 8 , 9 , 13 , 55 , 59 -60

markedness/unmarkedness of speech acts, 25 -26

marriage customs, Indian, 144 , 175 , 176

martial ethos in Indian epic, 135 -37, 170 -71, 174 , 175

Martin, Richard, 13 , 22 , 162 , 209

Marxism, 6

Mary, Virgin, 123 , 233 n. 14

mawwal (Arabic lyric genre), 59 -60, 161 , 162

media. See broadcasting; cinema; radio; television

Meleager, 209

memory, 4

Menoeceus, 103 n. 37, 229 -30

menopause, 76 -77

Mercury, 98 , 99

metamorphosis, 89 -107;

and allegory, 92 , 98 , 267 n. 34;

and anthropologies, 91 -95;

and Christianity, 123 , 259 , 267 n. 34;

and fama, 97 -100;

and fixity, 91 , 99 -100, 264 -65 n. 13;

language of, 90 ;

in Latin epic, 90 , 91 -95;

by magic, 90 ;

Odysseus', 93 , 100 ;

in origin tales, 243 -44, 244 -45;

part-to-part analogy, 245 , 266 n. 23;

and personification, 95 -97;

Protean, shifting,

reversible, 89 -90, 97 -100, 259 ;

terminal, irreversible 89 , 91 , 99 -100, 243 -44, 244 -45, 259

metaphor, 10 , 90

Michikimau, Lake, 266 n. 24

Millman, Lawrence, 242

Milton, John:

Paradise Lost,4 , 9 , 45 , 109 , 200 -1;

Satan 283 , 284 , 287

Miracoli della Vergine, Libro dei Cinquanti,123

Miseno, Punta di, 242

miseratio (forensic genre), 222

Moldavia, 80

monologic nature of epic, 7 , 273 , 284

Montenegro, 71 , 72

monumentalism of epic, 203

Morpheus, 96

mothers: curses, 72 , 77 -78;

figure in Balkan epic, 72 , 77 , 81 ;

laments, 224 -25, 229 -30

(see also Hecuba);

murderous, 211

mourners, professional, 225

Muhammad, song of praise to (madih ) 159 , 161 , 162

multiculturalism, 15 -16, 237 -96

Murnaghan, Sheila, 11 , 12 , 15 , 203 -20

music, 138 , 158 -59, 161 , 162

muthos (authoritative speech act), 25 -26, 209 -10, 212

Myrrha, 242 , 250 , 251 , 259

N

naca (Indian performance style), 138 , 139 -40, 143 , 146 , 147

Nagarjuna, 173 , 174

Nagy, Gregory, 12 , 13 , 21 -32, 41 , 42 , 109 , 131 , 191

Naipaul, V. S., 16 , 289 n. 17

names, play on, 36 , 38 , 61

Narcissus, 242

Na'sa, 59

national/local tensions, 11 , 246

nationalism, 12 ;

in Balkan Christian epic, 12 , 13 , 70 -71, 74 -75, 79 , 80 , 81 ;

and folklore, 70 -71;

and gender, 13 , 80 , 81 ;

and Indian epic, 14 ;

romantic, 70 ;

Walcott, 280

Native American oral tradition, 12 , 242 -43, 251 -53, 261 -63;

pedagogic value, 16 , 239 -40

Naya Theatre, New Delhi, India, 145

New Criticism, 3 , 283

New Delhi, India: Naya Theatre, 145

Nibelungenlied,192

nightingale, 41 , 242 .

See also Philomela

Nile Delta, 155 -68

Niobe, 94 , 228 , 250 , 258

Njegos, Petar Petrovic, II 73 -74;

Gorski vijenac (The Mountain Wreath), 69 , 71 , 74 -78, 81

norms:

inversion of epic, 281 -82, 283 -84;

violence in enforcing social 251 -52

nostoi. See return, stories of

novel, 4 , 28 , 273 , 287

novelty, epic's post-Homeric search for, 283 -84

Nugent, Georgia, 96

O

oak tree, Virgil on, 104 -5 n. 55

objectivity of epic, 283

occasion, 22 , 23

Octavian. See Augustus

Odysseus:

and Eumaeus, 41 , 196 , 254 ;

in Hades, 195 ;

and Penelope, 190 -91, 208 ;

poluainos, 42 ;

polutropos, 93 , 96 ; and

Sirens, 194 ;

tears, 190 , 191 , 206 -7;

and Telemachus, 287 ;

transformation into figure of wise man, 93 , 100

Okpewho, Isidore, 275 -76

Ong, Walter, 10

Onomacritus, 43

Opheltes, 228 , 229

Opis, nymph, 225 -26

oppositio in imitando,290 -91 n. 37

oracle, Indian, 180 -81

orality, oral tradition, 9 -11, 13 , 19 -86

oral literary genres embedded in literary epic, 74 ;

African epic, 275 ;

authority of tradition, 244 ;

Balkan Christian epic, 69 , 71 -73, 79 , 81 -82;

Caribbean culture 276 -77;

composition processes, 5 , 7 -9;

Homer, 5 , 276 , 278 -79;

lament as oral tradition, 204 ;

and nationalism, 71 , 74 -75;

oral epic as inspiration for literary, 79 ;

performance traditions distinguished from, 27 , 28 , 133 -34;

and politics, 71 , 74 -75, 81 -82;

transition to literacy, 12 , 13 , 15 , 196 -97;

Walcott on, 276 -77, 278 -79, 291 n. 40;

women's roles, 69 , 72 -73, 81 -82, 204

origin tales, 239 -69;

authority, 244 , 252 -53;

on birds, 248 -50, 251 -53, 261 -63;

characteristics of genre, 243 -45;

closure, 244 , 252 ;

and colonialism, 244 -45;

death in, 244 ;

fictive truth claims, 244 ;

metamorphoses irreversible in, 243 -44, 244 -45;

Native American oral tradition, 25 -53;

nostalgia for origins, 251 -52;

in Ovid 16 , 242 , 245 -50, 258 ;

sexual transgression in, 242 , 244 , 246 , 247 , 248 , 249 , 251 , 264 n. 12, 266 n. 18;

springs, 250 ;

on taboos, 251 -52.

See also violence

originality as characteristic of epic, 280

origins, 239 -69;

in epic, 172 , 196 , 242 , 253 -57;

evades direct representation, 241 -42, 249 -50, 253 , 255 -57, 258 ;

gods' involvement, 240 -41, 253 -57;

Lucretius on, 241 ;

of natural world, 242 -43, 245 -48

pollution, 257 -58;

in Spenser, 16 , 257 -60;

in Virgil, 16 , 240 -41, 242 , 255 -57

Orphism, 38 , 39 -40, 44

Osla village, Garhwal, India, 176

outcast, outsider:

poet as, 8 , 9 , 13 , 55 , 59 -60;

prophetess-witch in Balkan epic, 76 -77

Ovid, 12 , 89 -107;

anthropology, 92 -94;

on Fame, 97 -100;

grotesque, 248 ;

linguistic turn, 90 -91;

Metamorphoses,89 -107, 123 ;

metamorphic principle and fixity in, 259 , 264 -65 n. 13;

origin tales, 16 , 242 , 245 -50, 258 ;

on Persephone, 266 n. 18;

personification allegory, 95 -100;

Pythagoras, speech of, 92 , 98 -99;

similes, 91 ;

and Spenser, 257 -58;

violence in origin tales, 246 , 247 , 248 ;

Virgil's influence on, 94 -95, 97 ;

wordplay, 249

P

Palinurus, 242 , 255

Pallas, son of Evander, 95 , 225

Panathenaia, 27 , 44

pandav lila (Indian ritual performance), 172 -74

Pandavas, 169 , 172 , 175

Pandu, 169 , 170

Pandukeshvara, India, 172

Pandvani epic tradition, 133 , 140

parallelism, 74

parataxis, 74

parents, 286 -87;

laments for children, 212 , 224 -25, 229 -30

(see also Hecuba; Priam).

See also ancestors; fathers; mothers

Parry, Milman, 5 , 21

Parthenopaeus, 229 , 231

participatory nature of epic, 14 -15.

See also audience

Parvati (Hindu goddess), 143

Pastitshi, Thomas, 266 n. 25

paternity, 286 -87.

See also Priam

patriarchy, 70

Patroclus, laments for, 206 , 207 , 208 , 213 , 216

pedagogy, 6 , 15 -16, 239 -96

Peisistratus, 43 , 49 n. 43, 289 n. 24

penance, 199

Penelope, 190 -91, 208

penthos ("grief," Homeric use), 23

performance, 10 -11, 14 -15;

boundaries, 155 ;

classical Greek tradition, 27 ;

and composition, 21 -22;

context, 33 , 144 , 145 , 147 -48, 158 ;

and generic boundaries, 14 -15;

Homeric evidence on, 22 , 23 , 190 ;

levels, 155 ;

locating beginning of epic in, 162 -63;

oral and performance traditions distinguished, 27 , 28 , 133 -34;

other genres as part of epic, 158 -63;

outcast poet becomes bearer of tradition, 55 ;

pandav lila, ritual, 172 -74;

performer moves fully into role of hero, 14 ;

types and styles, 138 -40, 143 , 147 , 157 -58;

within a performance, 22 , 23 , 165 , 190 , 276

Persephone, 266 n. 18

personification, 89 , 95 -100, 228 , 233 n. 25

Petrarca, Francesco, 4 , 247

Phaeacia, 14 , 99 , 207 , 253 -55, 276

Phalaris, 42

Phantasos, 96

Phemius, 9 , 190

Pherecydes, 37

Philadelphia, Pa., school system, 270 -71

Philodemus, 48 n. 22

Philolaus, 47 n. 17

Philomela, 242 , 248 -50, 251

Phrynichus: Capture of Miletus,201 n. 2

Picus, 114 -15

pilgrimage, Hindu places of, 171 , 172

Pindar, 26 , 42 , 49 n. 53, 206

Plato:

on allegory, 38 , 45 , 47 n. 18, 48 n. 33, 49 nn. 54-55;

and Dionysius II of Syracuse, 4

on grief, 195 , 201 ;

on Homer and tragedy, 190 , 193 , 201 n. 11;

on performance, 34 , 37 , 189 -90;

on weeping at public performances, 189 -90.

Ion, 9, 34 , 37 , 189 -90, 195 ;

Phaedrus, 47 n. 18;

Republic, 38 , 49 n. 54, 190 , 193 ;

Seventh Letter,42 ;

Theaetetus,201 n. 11

pleonasm, 74

Plunkett, Denis, 280 , 286

pluralism, 283

Plutarch, 38

poetry, tale of origins of, 246 -47

politics:

of Balkan epic, 12 , 70 , 71 , 74 , 78 , 79 , 81 -82;

commentary through epic, 165 ;

of honor, 78 ;

of Indian epic performance, 3 , 11 , 14 -15;

potency of epic in, 2 -3.

See also nationalism

pollution, 257 -58, 264 n. 12

polyandry, fraternal, 170 , 175

Polydorus, 115 -17

Polynices, 227 , 229 , 231

polyvocal dimensions of epic, 203

Pompey the Great, 223

"popular" spirit, 5

Porphyry, 35 -36, 37 , 48 n. 34

postcolonial debates, 1 .

See also Walcott, Derek

poststructuralism, 6

power:

of Kauravas, 177 ;

rape as challenge to men's, 78 , 79 ;

women's lack of, 76 -77, 80 -81

praeficae (professional mourners), 225

pre-Socratic philosophers, 33 , 36 , 37 , 39 -40

Priam (in Iliad ) 191 -92, 193 , 210 , 212 , 213

Procne, Ovid on, 211 , 242 , 248 , 249

prose in epic performance, 160 , 161

Proteus, 92

proverbs, 136 , 160

psychoanalysis, 6

publication of epics, 137 , 157

punning, 12 , 257 -58, 280 ;

Arabic, 13 , 55 , 56 -57, 58 -59, 60 -61, 63 -64, 65 , 67

Puttenham, George, 253

Pythagoras, 36 ;

Speech of (in Ovid), 92 , 98 -99

Pythagoreanism, 37 , 44

Q

questioning, self-, 274

Quint, David, 242 , 284

Quintilian, 90

R

rabab (Egyptian musical instrument), 158

race, 270 -71, 273 -74

radio, 140 , 144 -45

ragi (Indian epic poet's respondent), 138 , 140

Rajputs (Indian warriors), 172 -73, 174 , 175 , 177

Rakovski, Georgi: Gorski putnik (Woodland traveler), 71 , 79 -80, 81

Ramayana epic tradition, 132 , 170 , 171 , 173

Rameshvaram, India, 171

rape:

and honor, 78 , 79 , 81 ;

in origin tales, 244 , 246 , 247 , 248 , 249 , 266 n. 18

Rastafari, 277

Raut caste, 134 , 136 , 137 , 138 , 139 , 143 , 149 n. 20

Rayya, 59 , 60 -61

recordings, audio and video, 133 , 157 , 158

redemption, Christian, 259

regional identity, Candaini epic and, 12 , 131 -32, 132 -33, 134 -35, 137 -44, 147

reinvention, 274 , 283 -84

remorse, 197 , 198 , 199

remuneration of epic singer, 8

Renaissance, 4 , 233 n. 14

repetition in composition, 74

repetition compulsion, 256 -57

resolution, 7 , 191 -92, 222 , 226 , 244 , 252

return, stories of, 72 , 109 -10, 190

revenge, 211 , 222 , 225 , 228 , 229

reversibility, fantasy of, 259 -60

Reynolds, Dwight, 11 , 14 , 46 , 155 -68

rhetoric, 10 , 222

riddling discourse. See ainos

Rinaldo, 123 -24, 199 -200

Ritu Varma, 140

"Robins, The Origin of" (Labrador Indian tale), 242 -43, 252 -53, 262 -63

Roland, Chanson de,9 , 109 , 120 , 192 , 196

Roma. See Gypsies.

Romania, 8 , 71 , 80 , 82 n. 2

romanticism, 5 , 70

Rome:

civil wars, 111 -12;

funerals, 225 ;

imperialism, 112 , 113 , 114 , 246 , 247 , 257 .

See also specific authors

Romulus, 222

Rustam, 192

S

sacrifice, human, 255

al-Safadi 66 n. 11

sahra (Egyptian social gathering), 158 -63

St. Lucia, Caribbean, 272 , 280 -81

saj' (Arabic rhyming prose), 160 , 161

Salmacis, 242

Samos, 45

sanskritization, 136

Sapiro, Virginia, 78 , 80

Sappho, 28

Satnami caste, 138 , 139 , 143 , 146

Saturn, cult of, 113 , 115

Sax, William S., 11 , 14 -15, 169 -86

Schiller, Johann Christoph Friedrich von, 279

Schmidt, Ernst, 93

school system, United States, 270 -71

Scythians, Darius and, 43

seers, women, 62 -63, 64 , 65 , 76 -77

Seneca the Younger, 221 , 222

Serbia, 71 -72

Seremetakis, Nadia, 204

Servius, 102 n. 24

sexuality:

ambiguity of poet's, 57 ;

transgressive, and origin tales, 242 , 244 , 251 , 264 n. 12

Sháhnáma,192

Shakespeare, William, 91

Shiva (Hindu god), 143

Sicily, 42

silence and acts of silencing, 6

Silvius, 114 -15

simile, 90 , 91 , 94 , 95 , 109

Singtur, India, 175 -76

Sirat Bani Hilal. See Arabic epic

Sirens, Odysseus and, 194

Skulsky, Harold, 97

Slatkin, Laura, 24 -25, 27

"slava" (Balkan family feasts), 74

Slavs, South, 5 , 23 -24, 82 n. 2, 160 , 275

Sleep, Ovid's personification of, 96

Slyomovics, Susan, 11 , 13 , 54 -68

social change, response of epic tradition to, 169

social commentary through epic, 165

Sodolow, Joseph, 95 -96

Solon of Athens, 49 n. 43, 205

Someshvara (Hindu god), 178 -82

sophists, 39 , 45

"source", Spenser's puns on, 257 -58

speech and speech acts, 22 -23;

epic as authoritative, 25 -26, 160 ;

lament transcends speech/action boundary, 23 , 205

Spenser, Edmund, 4 , 12 , 257 -60;

and allegory, 45 , 257 -58;

Arlo Hill digression,

259 -60;

ending, 242 ;

Malbecco, 96 -97, 259 ;

metamorphosis, 96 -97, 259 ;

and origins, 16 , 257 -60;

and Ovid, 257 -58;

on springs and sources, 257 -58;

on suffering and tears, 198 -99

springs, 242 , 250 , 257 -58

Statius, P. Papinius, 15 , 226 -32, 234 ;

consolationes,233 n. 18;

Epikedeia (Laments), 233 n. 18;

Thebaid, 103 n. 37, 226 -32;

on transformations, 97

Steiner, George, 272

Stephen the Great, king of Moldavia, 80

stereotyping, 79

Stesichorus, 42

Stesimbrotus, 39

Stoics, 45

subject, delayed announcement of, 281 -82, 283 -84

Suhráb, 192

Sundar Singh, of Jakhol, 179

Sundiata epic, 289 n. 21

Suraj Bai, 140

Svenbro, Jesper, 99

symbolism:

of laurel in poetry, 247 ;

Spenser's, 258

T

taboos, 251 -52

Tahiti, 266 n. 23

Tancredi, 121 -23

"Tangaroa, Maker of All Things" (Tahitian tale), 266 n. 23

Tanvir, Habib, 145 -47

Taplin, Oliver, 272

Tasso, Torquato, 4 , 117 -25, 127 n. 25;

allegory, 45 , 119 -20;

bleeding theme, 118 -19, 120 , 121 -23, 124 ;

and Catholic church, 110 , 117 ;

elitism, 4 , 10 , 111 , 117 , 124 -25;

on Islam, 117 , 118 , 120 , 121 , 124 ;

local and universal in, 11 , 14 , 110 , 117 -25;

on tears of epic, 199 -200

Tatian, 47 n. 5, 48 n. 23

tears in epic, 189 -202;

in Aeneid, 197 -98;

break down boundaries, 195 ;

Christian attitudes to, 197 , 199 -200;

at performances within Homeric epics, 206 -7;

as resolution, 191 -2;

stigma, 197

Telemachus, 190 , 208 , 241 , 287 ;

tears, 191 , 206

television, Indian, 140 , 144

Tereus, 248 -49, 250

terme songs of central Asia, 160

Theagenes of Rhegium, 34 , 35 -38, 42 , 45 , 99

theatre, Indian epic in, 145 -47

Theognis, 40 , 49 n. 46

Thetis, 206 , 210

Thomas, R. S., 105 n. 55

Thrace, 114

threnos (lyric genre), 205 -6

Tijan Bai, 140

time taken for performance, 158

Tiresias, 290 -91 n. 37

Todorov, Tzvetan, 22

Tons River basin, Himalayas, India, 174 , 175 -82

tradition:

as impersonal force, 108 ;

Mahabharata as, 169 , 174 -75;

performance, 27 , 28 , 133 -34;

poet as bearer of, 55 .

See also orality, oral tradition

tragedy, 27 , 205 , 209 , 221 , 222

transcendence, 279 -80

transformation. See metamorphosis

translatio imperii,285 -86

translation, 90 , 277 -78

trees:

bleeding, 115 -17, 121 -23;

origin tales, 242 , 245 -48, 250

Trent, Council, of 117 , 120

trickery:

in Arabic epic, 57 -59, 63 -64, 65 ;

in Indian epic, 139 , 171

Tridentine Council, 117 , 120

trope, 12 , 90

truth and fiction, 26 , 99

turn, linguistic, 90 -91

Turnus, 94 -95, 97 , 103 n. 37, 116 -17, 225 , 226

Tydeus, 229

Tylus, Jane, 11 , 14 , 108 -30

tyrants, 41 , 42 -43, 44

U

Uganda, 274

ululare, 234 n. 33

Uncle Remus stories, 240 , 243 -44

United States Ninth Cavalry, 286

universality, 11 , 14 , 108 -30;

in Tasso, 110 , 117 , 119 -20, 123 ;

in Virgil, 110 , 115 -17

Uttar Pradesh, Candaini epic in, 132 , 134 -35, 139 -40;

caste appropriation, 144 , 147 ;

male-centered variants, 140 , 142 -43;

and warrior ethos, 135 -37

V

Valerius Flaccus, 94 , 103 n. 40

Verdery, Katherine, 80

Vernant, Jean-Pierre, 195

victims, women, 73 , 78

"vilas," 73 , 77 , 81

villains, cult of epic See Kaurava brothers

violence in origin tales, 242 , 244 , 246 , 247 , 248 -50, 251 , 255 ;

in enforcement of social norms, 251 -52;

risk in exposing, 242 , 249 -50, 253

Virgil: Aeneid:

aetiology, 16 , 240 -41, 242 , 255 -57;

Allecto, 94 -95, 97 , 103 n. 37;

and allegory, 45 ;

analogy and image, 91 ;

anthropology, 94 -95;

and Apollonius Rhodius, 9 ;

and Augustus, 113 ;

cultic resonances, 11 , 14 , 111 -17;

Dido episode, 97 -100, 114 , 197 -98, 224 ;

disguise, 104 n. 41;

displacement theme, 95 , 109 , 110 , 113 -14, 116;

Eclogue I, 112 -13, 117 ;

Eclogue V, 111 -12, -114 , 115 , 118 ;

elitism, 110 , 111 ;

Fame, 97 -100;

Georgics II,104 -5 n. 55, 241 , 257 ;

gods and causality, 240 -41, 255 -57;

individuality, 9 ;

innovation, 284 ;

lament, 197 , 223 -26, 230 -31, 284 ;

language, 91 , 94 -95, 98 ;

local and universal elements, 11 , 14 , 109 , 110 , 111 -17, 246 ;

Lucretian echoes, 103 n. 40, 257 ;

metamorphosis, 94 -95, 259 ;

New Criticism, 283 ;

personification, 233 n. 25;

repetition, 256 -57, 258 ;

Tasso and, 124 ;

tears in, 197 -98;

Turnus, 94 -95, 97 , 103 n. 37, 116 -17, 225 , 226 .

See also Aeneas.

virha (Indian folk-song genre), 136

Virtue, Statius on, 103 n. 37

"Volk," Herder's notion of, 5 , 70

Vuk. See Karadzic, Vuk Stefanovic

W

Walachia, 80

Walcott, Derek:

Omeros, 15 -16, 270 -96;

analogy, deflation of, 283 ;

and authority, 273 , 282 -83, 287 ;

blindness theme, 288 n. 13;

and classical epic style, 280 -81;

on colonial succession, 285 -86;

dual cultures and genres, 287 ;

genre questions, 12 , 272 -87;

and Homer, 272 , 276 , 278 -79, 280 -81, 281 -82, 284 -85;

and imperialism, 280 , 285 -86;

indeterminacy of status, 271 -72, 287 ;

inversion of norms, 281 -82, 283 -84;

on lineage, 286 -87;

nationalism, 280 ;

and orality/literacy distinction, 276 -77, 291 n. 40;

punning, 280 ;

and race, 271 , 273 -74;

and scribal culture, 276 , 277 , 278 , 279 ;

and traditional definitions of epic, 280 ;

translation, 277 -78, 291 n. 40.

Other works:

"Cul de Sac Valley," 276 -77, 288 n. 13;

Dream on Monkey Mountain,289 n. 17;

"A Far Cry from Africa," 271 ;

"The Hotel Normandie Pool," 271 ;

O Babylon!,277 , 289 n. 17;

"Ruins of a Great House," 285 ;

"Sainte Lucie," 290 n. 29

warrior ethos in Indian epic, 135 -37, 170 -71, 172 -73, 174 , 175 , 177

weapons, ritual, 173 -74

wedding songs in Balkan epic, 74

weeping. See tears in epic

wisdom, Athene as personification of, 96

witches, 76 -77, 77 -78, 81

Wofford, Susanne, 12 , 16 , 239 -69, 284

women:

in Balkan Christian epic, 12 , 13 , 79 , 80 -82;

and death rites, 75 -76;

dicing over fate of men, 142 ;

displacement, 208 , 218 n. 21;

Greek modern rural lament, 204 ;

heroines of Sirat Bani Hilal,59 -60;

and oral transmission, 28 ;

otherworldly, 73 , 76 -77, 81 ;

powerlessness, 76 -77, 80 -81;

professional mourners, 225 ;

roles, 72 -73, 75 -78, 81 ;

spirited, 72 -73, 81 ;

stereotypes, 72 -73, 79 ;

symbolic male, post-menopausal, 76 -77;

in tragedy, 209 ;

weeping stigmatized, 197 .

See also mothers; rape;

see under honor; India; lament

wordplay, 12 , 249 .

See also names; punning

X

Xenophanes, 37 , 42 , 43 -44