Prometheus in the Nineteenth Century: From Myth to Symbol

ISBN-13: 9781907975523 / Angielski / Twarda / 2013 / 208 str.

Caroline Corbeau-Parsons

Opis

On Zeus' order, Prometheus was chained to Mount Caucasus where, every day, he was to endure his liver being devoured by a bird of prey -- his punishment for bringing fire to mankind. Through the impulse of Goethe, his fortune went through radical changes: the Titan, originally perceived as a trickster, was established both as a creator and a rebel freed from guilt, and he became a mask for the Romantic artist. This cross-disciplinary study, encompassing literature, the history of art, and music, examines the constitution of the Prometheus myth and the revolution it underwent in 19th-century Europe. It leads to the Symbolist period -- which witnessed the coronation of the Titan as a prism for the total work of art -- and aims to re-establish the importance of Prometheus amongst other major Symbolist figures such as Orpheus.

Spis treści

Introduction From the Beginnings to the Nineteenth Century 1. Archaic' and 'Intermediate' Myths, or the Primitive Constitution of the Prometheus Myth 2. From Antiquity to Christianity 3. Prometheus during the Renaissance and Beyond The nineteenth-century turning point: From myth to symbol 4. Genius and Creation: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 5. The Romantic Revolution: Byron and Shelley 6. The Mask of the Artist: Victor Hugo, Franz Liszt and Honoré de Balzac Prometheus and the Crisis of Faith 7. Symbolism and Myth 8. The Twilight of the Gods' 9. Prometheus at the Heart of Symbolist Syncretism The Many Faces of Prometheus 10. Gustave Moreau, Prometheus and Jesus Christ 11. The Vitalist Prometheus 12. The Cross-Fertilization of the Prometheus Myth by the Pygmalion Myth 13. Prometheus and the Total Work of Art 14. Conclusion

O autorze

Caroline Corbeau-Parsons