G. S. Kirk – författare

This book attempts to come to grips with a set of widely ranging but connected problems concerning myths: their relation to folktales on the one hand, to rituals on the other; the validity and scope of the structuralist theory of myth; the range of possible mythical functions; the effects of developed social institutions and literacy; the character and meaning of ancient Near-Eastern myths and their influence on Greece; the special forms taken by Greek myths and their involvement with rational modes of thought; the status of myths as expressions of the unconscious, as allied with dreams, as universal symbols, or as accidents of primarily narrative aims. Almost none of these problems has been convincingly handled, even in a provisional way, up to the present, and this failure has vitiated not only such few general discussions as exist of the nature, meanings and functions of myths but also, in many cases, the detailed assessment of individual myths of different cultures. The need for a coherent treatment of these and related problems, and one that is not concerned simply to propagate a particular universalistic theory, seems undeniable.How far the present book will satisfactorily fill such a need remains to be seen. At least it makes a beginning, even if in doing so it risks the criticism of being neither fish nor fowl. Sociologists and folklorists may find it, from their specialized viewpoints, a little simplistic in places; and a few classical colleagues will not forgive me for straying far beyond Greek myths, even though these can hardly be understood in isolation or solely in the light of studies in cult and ritual. Others may find it less easy than anthropologists, sociologists, historians of thought or students of French and English literature to accept the relevance of Levi-Strauss to some of these matters; but his theory contains the one important new idea in this field since Freud, it is complicated and largely untested, and it demands careful attention from anyone attempting a broad understanding of the subject. The beliefs of Freud and Jung, on the other hand, are a more familiar element in the situation and have given rise to an enormous secondary literature, much of it arbitrary and some of it absurd.The author has tried to isolate the crucial ideas and subject them to a pointed, if too brief, critique; so too with those of Ernst Cassirer.

This is a shortened and rearranged version of The Songs of Homer, Professor Kirk's vivid and comprehensive account of the background and development of the Homeric poems and of their quality as literature. His purpose remains the same: to develop a comprehensive and unified view of the nature of the Iliad and the Odyssey, of their relation to the oral heroic poetry of the Greek Dark Age, and of their creation as poems by two great singers in the eighth century BC. The essential attitudes and arguments of the earlier work have been retained, but the whole has been reduced in detail by some two-fifths. The sections on the historical background, the possibilities of Achaean and Aeolic epic, and the technical aspects of the language have been abbreviated most, and those dealing with oral poetry and the Iliad and Odyssey as literature least of all. Professor Kirk has also changed the order and increased the number of chapters. Almost all the Greek is translated, and the new version can be more easily used by those who are primarily interested in classics in translation, comparative literature, oral poetry, or the epic in general.

This work provides a text and an extended study of those fragments of Heraclitus' philosophical utterances whose subject is the world as a whole rather than man and his part in it. Professor Kirk discusses fully the fragments which he finds genuine and treats in passing others that were generally accepted as genuine but here considered paraphrased or spurious. In securing his text, Professor Kirk has taken into account all the ancient testimonies, and in his critical work he attached particular importance to the context in which each fragment is set. To each he gives a selective apparatus, a literal translation and and an extended commentary in which problems of textual and philosophical criticism are discussed. Ancient accounts of Heraclitus were inadequate and misleading, and as Kirk wrote, understanding was often hindered by excessive dogmatism and a selective use of the fragments. Professor Kirk's method is critical and objective, and his 1954 work marks a significant advance in the study of Presocratic thought.

The Songs of Homer (Cambridge University Press, 1962) was a major contribution to Homeric studies, establishing important theories about the composition, structure and transmission of the monumental poems. In this 1976 volume, Geoffrey Kirk returns to Homer, but the themes are largely different. He considers in particular the nature of oral and epic poetry, and the meaning of an oral tradition. There are problems here of interest not only to classicists and Homeric specialists but also to students of English and comparative literature, and to anthropologists concerned with the literature of traditional societies. Those pieces that were previously published were revised and unified for the volume. The longest section, on 'the oral and the literary epic', is derived from the J. H. Gray Lectures, which Professor Kirk delivered in Cambridge in 1974 and which had not been previously published in any form.

This is the second volume in the major six-volume commentary on The Iliad now being prepared under the general editorship of Professor Kirk. Volume I was published in 1985. As before the volume consists of four introductory essays followed by the commentary itself. The Greek text is not included. This project is the first large-scale commentary on The Iliad for nearly 100 years, and takes special account of language, style and thematic structure as well as of the complex social and cultural background to the work.

Beginning with a long and extensively rewritten introduction surveying the predecessors of the Presocratics, this book traces the intellectual revolution initiated by Thales in the sixth century BC to its culmination in the metaphysics of Parmenides and the complex physical theories of Anaxagoras and the Atomists in the fifth century it is based on a selection of some six hundred texts, in Greek and a close English translation which in this edition is given more prominence. These provide the basis for a detailed critical study of the principal individual thinkers of the time. Besides serving as an essential text for undergraduate and graduate courses in Greek philosophy and in the history of science, this book will appeal to a wide range of readers with interests in philosophy, theology, the history of ideas and of the ancient world, and indeed to anyone who wants an authoritative account of the Presocratics.

This is the first volume of a projected six-volume Commentary on Homer's Iliad, under the General Editorship of professor G. S. Kirk. Professor Kirk himself is the editor of the present volume, which covers the first four Books of Iliad. It consists of four introductory chapters, dealing in particular with rhythm and formular techniques, followed by the detailed commentary which aims at helping serious readers by attempting to identify and deal with most of the difficulties which might stand in the way of a sensitive and informed response to the poem. The Catalogues in Book 2 recieve especially full treatment. The book does not include a Greek text - important matters pertaining to the text are discussed in the commentary. It is hoped that the volume as a whole will lead scholars to a better understanding of the epic style as well as of many well-known thematic problems on a larger scale. This Commentary will be an essential reference work for all students of Greek literature. Archaeologists and historians will also find that it contains matters of relevance to them.

This is the second volume in the major six-volume commentary on The Iliad now being prepared under the general editorship of Professor Kirk. Volume I was published in 1985. As before the volume consists of four introductory essays followed by the commentary itself. The Greek text is not included. This project is the first large-scale commentary on The Iliad for nearly 100 years, and takes special account of language, style and thematic structure as well as of the complex social and cultural background to the work.

This, the fourth volume in the six-volume Commentary on The Iliad being prepared under the General Editorship of Professor G. S. Kirk, covers Books 13-16, including the Battle for the Ships, the Deception of Zeus and the Death of Patroklos. Three introductory essays discuss the role of Homer's gods in his poetry; the origins and development of the epic diction; and the transmission of the text, from the bard's lips to our own manuscripts. It is now widely recognised that the first masterpiece of Western literature is an oral poem; Professor Janko's detailed commentary aims to show how this recognition can clarify many linguistic and textual problems, entailing a radical reassessment of the work of Homer's Alexandrian editors. The commentary also explores the poet's subtle creativity in adapting traditional materials, whether formulae, typical scenes, mythology or imagery, so as best to move, inspire and entertain his audience, ancient and modern alike. Discussion of the poem's literary qualities and structure is, where possible, kept separate from that of more technical matters.

The Bacchae is the last and greatest of Euripides' plays. Its theme of the cost of resisting the gods who reside in human nature itself is still of immediate interest to audiences and readers and has inspired modern interpretations. Professor Kirk has made a translation which is both accurate and readable. This he supports with an analytic commentary and a substantial introductory essay which provide the Greek-less reader with essential background information and offer interpretation of a kind usually found only in Greek editions. This is a translation for students of Greek tragedy, particularly in courses on classics in translations or classical civilisation. It will also be useful for students of drama and of English and other literatures.

This is the fifth volume in the major six-volume Commentary on Homer's Iliad now being prepared under the general- editorship of Professor G. S. Kirk. Volume I was published in 1985, Volume II in 1990; both were edited by Professor Kirk himself. Like its predecessors, the present volume (the first to appear from the hand of one of Professor Kirk's four collaborators) consists of four introductory essays (including discussions of similes and other features of narrative style) followed by the Commentary. The Greek text is not included. This project is the first large-scale commentary on The Iliad, for nearly one hundred years, and takes special account of language, style and thematic structure as well as of the complex social and cultural background to the work. The Commentary is an essential reference work for all students of Greek literature, and archaeologists and historians will also find that it contains matters of relevance to them.