Classical Traditions in Modern Fantasy presents fifteen all-new essays on how fantasy draws on ancient Greek and Roman mythology, philosophy, literature, history, art, and cult practice. Ranging from harpies to hobbits, from Cyclopes to Cthulhu, the comparative study of Classics and fantasy reveals deep similarities between ancient and modern ways of imagining the world.

Classical Traditions in Modern Fantasy presents fifteen all-new essays on how fantasy draws on ancient Greek and Roman mythology, philosophy, literature, history, art, and cult practice. Ranging from harpies to hobbits, from Cyclopes to Cthulhu, the comparative study of Classics and fantasy reveals deep similarities between ancient and modern ways of imagining the world.

For all its concern with change in the present and future, science fiction is deeply rooted in the past and, surprisingly, engages especially deeply with the ancient world. Indeed, both as an area in which the meaning of "classics" is actively transformed and as an open-ended set of texts whose own 'classic' status is a matter of ongoing debate, science fiction reveals much about the roles played by ancient classics in modern times. Classical Traditions in Science Fiction is the first collection in English dedicated to the study of science fiction as a site of classical receptions, offering a much-needed mapping of that important cultural and intellectual terrain. This volume discusses a wide variety of representative examples from both classical antiquity and the past four hundred years of science fiction, beginning with science fiction's "rosy-fingered dawn" and moving toward the other-worldly literature of the present day. As it makes its way through the eras of science fiction, Classical Traditions in Science Fiction exposes the many levels on which science fiction engages the ideas of the ancient world, from minute matters of language and structure to the larger thematic and philosophical concerns.

Preface ; Introduction: Displacing Antiquity in Science Fiction and Fantasy (Brett M -- Rogers, Benjamin Eldon Stevens) ; Part I: Displacing Points of Origin. 1 -- More 'T, ' Vicar? Revisiting Models and Methodologies for Classical Receptions in Science Fiction (Tony Keen) ; 2 -- Saxa loquuntur?: Archaeological Fantasies in Wilhelm Jensen's Gradiva (Jesse Weiner) ; 3 -- Time Travel and Self-Reflexivity in Receptions of Homer's Iliad (Claire Kenward) ; 4 -- Monuments and Tradition in Jack McDevitt's The Engines of God (Laura Zientek) ; Part II: Displaced in Space. 5 -- Lyra's Odyssey in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials (Ortwin Knorr) ; 6 -- Displacing Nostos and the Ancient Greek Hero in Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (Suzanne Lye) ; 7. 'The nearest technically impossible thing': Classical Antiquity in the Novels of Helen Oyeyemi (Benjamin Eldon Stevens) ; Part III: Displaced in Time. 8 -- Dynamic Tensions: The Figure(s) of Atlas in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Stephen B -- Moses and Brett M -- Rogers) ; 9 -- Drinking Blood and Talking Ghosts in Diana Wynne Jones's The Time of the Ghost (Frances Foster) ; 10 -- Finding Cassandra in Science Fiction: The Seer of Agamemnon and the Time-Traveling Protector of Continuum (Jennifer Ranck) ; Part IV: Displacing Genre. 11 -- Classical Reception and the Half-Elf Cleric (C -- W -- Marshall) ; 12 -- The Gods Problem in Gene Wolfe's Soldier of the Mist (Vincent Tomasso) ; 13 -- The Divine Emperor in Virgil's Aeneid and the Warhammer 40K Universe (Alexander McAuley) ;Part V: Epilogue: Finding a Place in Displacement. 14 -- Just Your Averange Tuesday-Morning Minotaur (Catherynne M -- Valente).

A FINALIST FOR THE 2020 WORLD FANTASY AWARD Unearth the enchanting origins of fantasy fiction with a collection of tales as vast as the tallest tower and as mysterious as the dark depths of the forest. Fantasy stories have always been with us. They illuminate the odd and the uncanny, the wondrous and the fantastic: all the things we know are lurking just out of sight—on the other side of the looking-glass, beyond the music of the impossibly haunting violin, through the twisted trees of the ancient woods. Other worlds, talking animals, fairies, goblins, demons, tricksters, and mystics: these are the elements that populate a rich literary tradition that spans the globe. A work composed both of careful scholarship and fantastic fun, The Big Book of Classic Fantasy is essential reading for anyone who’s never forgotten the stories that first inspired feelings of astonishment and wonder. INCLUDING: *Stories by pillars of the genre like the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Mary Shelley, Christina Rossetti, L. Frank Baum, Robert E. Howard, and J. R. R. Tolkien *Fantastical offerings from literary giants including Edith Wharton, Leo Tolstoy, Willa Cather, Zora Neale Hurston, Vladimir Nabokov, Hermann Hesse, and W.E.B. Du Bois *Rare treasures from Asian, Eastern European, Scandinavian, and Native American traditions *New translations, including fourteen stories never before in English PLUS: *Beautifully Bizarre Creatures! *Strange New Worlds Just Beyond the Garden Path! *Fairy Folk and Their Dark Mischief! *Seriously Be Careful—Do Not Trust Those Fairies!

Both passionate and artful, learned and bawdy, Catullus is one of the best-known and critically significant poets from classical antiquity. An intriguing aspect of his poetry that has been neglected by scholars is his interest in silence, from the pauses that shape everyday conversation to linguistic taboos and cultural suppressions and the absolute silence of death. In Silence in Catullus, Benjamin Eldon Stevens offers fresh readings of this Roman poet's most important works, focusing on his purposeful evocations of silence. This deep and varied "poetics of silence" takes on many forms in Catullus's poetic corpus: underscoring the lyricism of his poetry; highlighting themes of desire, immortality-in-culture, and decay; accenting its structures and rhythms; and, Stevens suggests, even articulating underlying philosophies. Combining classical philological methods, contemporary approaches to silence in modern literature, and the most recent Catullan scholarship, this imaginative examination of Catullus offers a new interpretation of one of the ancient world's most influential and inimitable voices.

Now in an updated second edition, Gabriel Said Reynolds tells the story of Islam in this brief illustrated survey, beginning with Muhammad's early life and rise to power, then tracing the origins and development of the Qur'an juxtaposed with biblical literature, and concluding with an overview of modern and fundamentalist narratives of the origin of Islam. Reynolds offers a fascinating look at the structure and meaning of the Qur'an, revealing the ways in which biblical language is used to advance the Qur'an's religious meaning. Reynolds' analysis identifies the motives that shaped each narrative--Islamic, Jewish, and Christian. The book's conclusion yields a rich understanding of diverse interpretations of Islam's emergence, suggesting that its emergence is itself ever-developing.