- 272 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
"[A] startlingly original history that traces the obscure origins and tangled relationships of the Orpheus myth from ancient times through today" (
Library Journal).
For at least two and a half millennia, the figure of Orpheus has haunted humanity. Half-man, half-god, musician, magician, theologian, poet, and lover, his story never leaves us. He may be myth, but his lyre still sounds, entrancing everything that hears it: animals, trees, water, stones, and men.
In this extraordinary work, Ann Wroe goes in search of Orpheus, tracing the man and the power he represents through the myriad versions of a fantastical life: his birth in Thrace, his studies in Egypt, his voyage with the Argonauts to fetch the Golden Fleece, his love for Eurydice and the journey to Hades, and his terrible death. We see him tantalizing Cicero and Plato, and breathing new music into Gluck and Monteverdi; occupying the mind of Jung and the surreal dreams of Cocteau; scandalizing the fathers of the early Church, and filling Rilke with poems like a whirlwind. He emerges as not simply another mythical figure but the force of creation itself, singing the song of light out of darkness and life out of death.
"Did Orpheus exist? Wroe thinks he did, and still does, and dedicates this lyrical biography to doubters." — The New Yorker
"This insightful and visionary study, treading a perfect line between imagination and scholarship, is as readable and necessary as a fine novel. Ted Hughes, another mythographer, would have loved it." — The Independent
"A book to make readers laugh, sing and weep." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"[ Orpheus] will leave you dancing." — New Statesman
For at least two and a half millennia, the figure of Orpheus has haunted humanity. Half-man, half-god, musician, magician, theologian, poet, and lover, his story never leaves us. He may be myth, but his lyre still sounds, entrancing everything that hears it: animals, trees, water, stones, and men.
In this extraordinary work, Ann Wroe goes in search of Orpheus, tracing the man and the power he represents through the myriad versions of a fantastical life: his birth in Thrace, his studies in Egypt, his voyage with the Argonauts to fetch the Golden Fleece, his love for Eurydice and the journey to Hades, and his terrible death. We see him tantalizing Cicero and Plato, and breathing new music into Gluck and Monteverdi; occupying the mind of Jung and the surreal dreams of Cocteau; scandalizing the fathers of the early Church, and filling Rilke with poems like a whirlwind. He emerges as not simply another mythical figure but the force of creation itself, singing the song of light out of darkness and life out of death.
"Did Orpheus exist? Wroe thinks he did, and still does, and dedicates this lyrical biography to doubters." — The New Yorker
"This insightful and visionary study, treading a perfect line between imagination and scholarship, is as readable and necessary as a fine novel. Ted Hughes, another mythographer, would have loved it." — The Independent
"A book to make readers laugh, sing and weep." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"[ Orpheus] will leave you dancing." — New Statesman
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Yes, you can access Orpheus by Ann Wroe in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Greek Ancient History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Index
Abraham, 208–9, 211, 213
Acheron, river, 140, 142
Acteon, 165
Adonis, 111
Aegean, 12, 23, 68, 86, 182
Aeschylus, 71, 226
Aether, 16, 25, 26, 37, 47, 48, 55, 56, 57, 182, 189, 210
Air, 26, 49, 85, 94, 111, 195, 202, 204
Aites, King, 96, 102, 103, 110
Alexander Severus, 213
Alexandria, 9, 49, 51; and see Clement of; Jews of
Alphabets, 22, 44; proto-Cyrillic, 38, 235; Pelasgian, 38, 70; tree, 70
Anouilh, Jean, Eurydice cited: 17, 112, 113, 160, 161, 164, 222
Antisthenes, 196
Aphrodite (Venus), 22, 58, 111, 115, 126, 183, 220, 242
Apollinaire, Guillaume, 135–6
Apollo, 11, 15–16, 20, 21, 25, 27, 32, 33, 37, 40, 49, 58, 72, 77, 79, 140, 191, 192, 198, 199, 218–19, 243; as father, 16, 37, 44, 45, 90–93, 97, 100, 126, 176–7, 188, 205, 213, 229, 230, 231, 232, 242; as god of the sun, 16, 25, 91–3, 206–7; as god of healing, 81, 89, 92; as god of song, 16, 25, 91–3, 219; his oracle, 72, 175, 230; his tripod, 36, 91; Orpheus singing to, 45, 65, 80, 92, 93, 197, 204–7
Apollonius Rhodius, 75, 77, 78, 80, 84, 89, 95, 98
Apollonius of Tyana, 120, 213
Apples, 10, 121, 15...
Table of contents
- Cover
- Also by Ann Wroe
- Copyright
- Contents
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- First string: Winter
- Second string: Trees
- Third string: The sea
- Middle string: Love
- Fifth string: Death
- Sixth string: Fame
- Seventh string: Scattering
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgements
- Index