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The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends, and Myths
- Author
- William Hansen
- Narrator
- Kristin Atherton
- Publisher
- Princeton University Press
- Publish Date
- 14 February 2023
- Run Time
- 16 hours 27 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
A classic anthology now available on audio
With narration by Kristin Atherton, who presents the entire range of ancient Greek and Roman stories from myths and fairy tales to jokes
Captured centaurs and satyrs, incompetent seers, people who suddenly change sex, a woman who remembers too much, a man who cannot laugh—these are just some of the colorful characters who feature in the unforgettable stories that ancient Greeks and Romans told in their daily lives. Together they created an incredibly rich body of popular oral stories that include, but range well beyond, mythology—from heroic legends, fairy tales, and fables to ghost stories, urban legends, and jokes. This unique anthology presents the largest collection of these tales ever assembled. Featuring nearly four hundred stories in authoritative and highly readable translations, this is the first book to offer a representative selection of the entire range of traditional classical storytelling. This one-of-a-kind anthology will delight general readers as well as students of classics, fairy tales, and folklore.
Critics Review
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"One of CHOICE's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2017"
Choice
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"A dizzying, dreamy compendium of ancient stories. . . . Enchanting. . . . The collection aspires to be both a bedside tome that appeals to millennial attention spans and a hunger for cultural canapés elevated to an art form by Schott's Miscellanies, and at the same time a serious contribution to scholarship on ancient narrative. But somehow the stories themselves–in their sheer, buzzing mass–take on a life of their own and spill over this carefully crafted frame. After a period of full immersion, we begin to hear the voices of the tipsy philosopher, the deadpan Spartan, the bored Roman soldier, the misanthrope, the adulterous wife, and to imagine the ancient laughter echoing through these tales as they were read, heard and replayed. The thrill is anything but anodyne."—Victoria Rimell, Times Literary Supplement
Times Literary Supplement
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"William Hansen . . . has extracted from a lifetime of reading seemingly all of ancient literature's most wonderful anecdotes, eerie stories, Aesopian fables, trickster tales and philosophical parables. The resulting anthology is an extraordinarily entertaining bedside book. . . . These anecdotes aren't just classical, they're classic, as much a part of our culture as Grimm fairy tales or stories from the Bible."—Michael Dirda, Washington Post
Washington Post
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"William Hansen's enchanting collection of Greek and Roman folktales, legends and myths will prove indispensable. . . . The collection is as appealing to the advanced scholar as to a teenager first falling in love with the classics or to an aspiring author. . . . Hansen has succeeded in conveying to the reader his own love of and fascination with ancient storytelling, and his enthusiasm is infectious. The book is perfect reading for a summer holiday under Mediterranean skies. I cannot recommend it highly enough."—Edith Hall, Literary Review
Literary Review
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"Hansen is arguably the most eminent folklorist currently active in the realm of classical scholarship. This long-awaited, astonishingly comprehensive volume represents the culmination of his scholarly explorations over a period of more than 50 years. It is a work of remarkable depth and scope, the consummate achievement of decades of research and collecting, analyzing, and classifying the literary memorializations of Greek and Roman oral narrative fiction. . . . All the tales are lucidly translated by Hansen himself. . . . This aesthetically pleasing and most welcome publication not only provides an excellent introduction to the multidimensional world of Greek and Roman storytelling, but also constitutes a delightful repository of literary entertainment."—Choice
Choice
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"This is a remarkable book, whose enormous range takes us deep into the world of oral storytelling enjoyed by the Greeks and Romans. . . . It is wonderful to have this treasure house of good stories from classical antiquity available in English in a form that will satisfy the scholar as well as the lover of a tale well told."—Joseph Russo, Journal of Folklore Research
Journal of Folklore Research
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- William Hansen
- Narrator
- Kristin Atherton
- Duration
- 16 hours 27 minutes
- Release Date
- 14 February 2023
- ISBN
- 9780691251639
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Princeton University Press
- Genre
- Ancient, classical and medieval texts, Folklore studies / Study of myth
Synopsis
A classic anthology now available on audio With narration by Kristin Atherton, who presents the entire range of ancient Greek and Roman stories from myths and fairy tales to jokes Captured centaurs and satyrs, incompetent seers, people who suddenly change sex, a woman who remembers too much, a man who cannot laugh—these are just some of the colorful characters who feature in the unforgettable stories that ancient Greeks and Romans told in their daily lives. Together they created an incredibly rich body of popular oral stories that include, but range well beyond, mythology—from heroic legends, fairy tales, and fables to ghost stories, urban legends, and jokes. This unique anthology presents the largest collection of these tales ever assembled. Featuring nearly four hundred stories in authoritative and highly readable translations, this is the first book to offer a representative selection of the entire range of traditional classical storytelling. This one-of-a-kind anthology will delight general readers as well as students of classics, fairy tales, and folklore.
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