The Recurrence of Rhythm is an inquiry into the notion that the voice flows ??? a theme that continually recurs in the Homeric poems, Plato's Cratylus and James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses. Through a re-interpretation of the meaning of rhythmos in pre-Socratic philosophy, I define rhythm as the particular manner in which the voice is flowing, and argue that it is the specific quality of phonetic writing to represent the flowing aspect of the voice. The Greek concept of rhythmos is held to be inseparable from the invention of phonetic writing and the transcription of the Homeric poems, and it is this new definition of rhythm that allows the thesis to engage in contemporary debates concerning the relationship between speech and writing (as developed by Derrida, Ong, Havelock, Parry, Lord and Prier). I also argue that the Platonic concept of rhythm qua metre provides an essential point of mediation between the Greek oral tradition and the history of Western literature, a move that sets the scene for a comparative study of Homer and Joyce. By developing an original concept of recurrence that pertains to both the repetition of themes in the Homeric poems and the heroic experience of living for the sake of the story, this thesis proposes that rhythm and recurrence are interrelated concepts that distinguish the lyrical and dramatic modes that structure the epic form of narrative found in both Homer's poems and Joyce's novels. Drawing upon the esthetic philosophy of Stephen Dedalus, I develop the dialectical theory of genre first outlined by Joyce in the Paris notebook, and argue that the latent lyricism contained in the narrative style of A Portrait is a proto-typical form of the interior monologue found in Ulysses. In opposition to the early modernist paradigm of Joyce criticism, this thesis rejects the notion that mythic archetypes function as Platonic ideals (i.e. the transcendent form of the modernist artwork), but rather holds that heroic themes recur in the mental stream of the modern subject, and manifest themselves immediately through Joyce???s use of the interior monologue technique.

This dissertation examines the relationship between sympotic and rhapsodic discourses and the Homeric epics and specifically considers how an understanding of sympotic discourse can affect an external audience’s perception of events within the narrative. Heroic feasting is examined and defined as an activity which signifies different attitudes and aesthetics than the symposium. Yet a case is made for the possibility that Greek people are practicing symposia at a time when rhapsodes – the creative composers-in-performance of the epics – would have been freely incorporating material from the contemporary world into their performances. This is a period of time extending over much of the 7th century, and perhaps even into some time before and after. I analyze both the symposium and rhapsodic performances as discourses, using literary, archaeological, epigraphic, and iconographic evidence to define markers – certain signs, gestures, attitudes, accoutrement, and behavior specific to each – of each discourse. By treating the symposium and rhapsodic performances as discourses with their own markers, I establish a methodology with which to examine certain passages of the epics and the implicit meanings conveyed in them. Odysseus is thus shown to be manipulating sympotic discourse in the Phaeacian episodes of the Odyssey in order to win a favorable return home – at least as the contemporary external audience familiar with sympotic conventions of speaking and behaving would have understood it. Achilles too is treated, with specific reference to his behavior in the embassy scene of the Iliad. The sympotic discourse conveyed by the actions and attitudes of Achilles and Patroclus can be shown to communicate additional layers of meaning to the external audience and perhaps reference extra-Iliadic motifs concerning Achilles’ behavior at symposia. A proper understanding of rhapsodic and sympotic discourses within the epics not only contributes to a more nuanced understanding of character behavior within the epics and audiences’ perception of such behavior, but also challenges our understanding of the role of archaic social institutions such as the symposium within the epics.

Diss.--Philosophie--Freiburg--Phil.-Fak., 1990. / Contient 3 vol. de musique. Bibliogr. p. XXIV-XXX.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 373-395). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Catholic University of America. / Bibliography: p. [5]-8.

Based on the author's dissertation--Mainz, 1961. / Bibliography: p. [169]-171.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Heidelberg, 1894. / Vita--p. [111]-112. Includes bibliographical references (p. vii-viii).

This dissertation examines the relationship between sympotic and rhapsodic discourses and the Homeric epics and specifically considers how an understanding of sympotic discourse can affect an external audience’s perception of events within the narrative. Heroic feasting is examined and defined as an activity which signifies different attitudes and aesthetics than the symposium. Yet a case is made for the possibility that Greek people are practicing symposia at a time when rhapsodes – the creative composers-in-performance of the epics – would have been freely incorporating material from the contemporary world into their performances. This is a period of time extending over much of the 7th century, and perhaps even into some time before and after. I analyze both the symposium and rhapsodic performances as discourses, using literary, archaeological, epigraphic, and iconographic evidence to define markers – certain signs, gestures, attitudes, accoutrement, and behavior specific to each – of each discourse. By treating the symposium and rhapsodic performances as discourses with their own markers, I establish a methodology with which to examine certain passages of the epics and the implicit meanings conveyed in them. Odysseus is thus shown to be manipulating sympotic discourse in the Phaeacian episodes of the Odyssey in order to win a favorable return home – at least as the contemporary external audience familiar with sympotic conventions of speaking and behaving would have understood it. Achilles too is treated, with specific reference to his behavior in the embassy scene of the Iliad. The sympotic discourse conveyed by the actions and attitudes of Achilles and Patroclus can be shown to communicate additional layers of meaning to the external audience and perhaps reference extra-Iliadic motifs concerning Achilles’ behavior at symposia. A proper understanding of rhapsodic and sympotic discourses within the epics not only contributes to a more nuanced understanding of character behavior within the epics and audiences’ perception of such behavior, but also challenges our understanding of the role of archaic social institutions such as the symposium within the epics.

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The Recurrence of Rhythm is an inquiry into the notion that the voice flows ??? a theme that continually recurs in the Homeric poems, Plato's Cratylus and James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses. Through a re-interpretation of the meaning of rhythmos in pre-Socratic philosophy, I define rhythm as the particular manner in which the voice is flowing, and argue that it is the specific quality of phonetic writing to represent the flowing aspect of the voice. The Greek concept of rhythmos is held to be inseparable from the invention of phonetic writing and the transcription of the Homeric poems, and it is this new definition of rhythm that allows the thesis to engage in contemporary debates concerning the relationship between speech and writing (as developed by Derrida, Ong, Havelock, Parry, Lord and Prier). I also argue that the Platonic concept of rhythm qua metre provides an essential point of mediation between the Greek oral tradition and the history of Western literature, a move that sets the scene for a comparative study of Homer and Joyce. By developing an original concept of recurrence that pertains to both the repetition of themes in the Homeric poems and the heroic experience of living for the sake of the story, this thesis proposes that rhythm and recurrence are interrelated concepts that distinguish the lyrical and dramatic modes that structure the epic form of narrative found in both Homer's poems and Joyce's novels. Drawing upon the esthetic philosophy of Stephen Dedalus, I develop the dialectical theory of genre first outlined by Joyce in the Paris notebook, and argue that the latent lyricism contained in the narrative style of A Portrait is a proto-typical form of the interior monologue found in Ulysses. In opposition to the early modernist paradigm of Joyce criticism, this thesis rejects the notion that mythic archetypes function as Platonic ideals (i.e. the transcendent form of the modernist artwork), but rather holds that heroic themes recur in the mental stream of the modern subject, and manifest themselves immediately through Joyce???s use of the interior monologue technique.