First-Person Fictions: Pindar's Poetic "I"

ISBN: 0198146868

Author: Lefkowitz, Mary R.

Condition: New

This collection of essays deals with one central problem: who is the "I" in the odes of the ancient Greek poet Pindar? Since antiquity, the complex and allusive language of the first-person statements has provoked many different answers. In First Person Fictions, Lefkowitz describes the function and nature of Pindar's "I"-statements and offers a controversial solution, proposing that the voice of the victory odes is, rather than a changing identity, the voice of the poet himself. Also refuting the traditional belief that the odes were sung by a chorus, Lefkowitz shows that in most cases they were sung as solos in the tradition of the Homeric bards. Extensively rewritten since their publication as articles, these essays are sure to provide a controversial and stimulating approach to the study of Pindar.