Book Description

Excerpt from A Study in Epic Development It is hoped that the title of the thesis here presented - A Study in Epic Development - will suggest, what the pages which follow make clear, that a very small portion has been examined of what is implied in a study of epic development. I have dealt only with certain of the popular, or semi-popular, epic manifestations, and have tried to correlate and to bring under one view dissociated facts that have to do with early epic production; and, since the people who were evolving certain forms in their orally transmitted narrative were at the same time evolving certain forms in their government, the relation existing between the literature and the contemporary political organization has been emphasized. The material which has been brought together as illustrative has been selected because of its representative character, and in the greater number of cases may be indefinitely supplemented. It is not necessary, I know, to call attention to the fact that the result attained has been in many ways unsatisfactory; the variety of the material demands a practised hand for its arrangement, and I hope that a deeper philosophy than mine will yet show the informing spirit which makes the epic throughout its development essentially one. The work has been done only by way of beginning a study of the epic; it is the result of my effort to find a starting place; and notwithstanding its deficiencies, it may simplify the struggles of the student who would see this form of literature as a whole. Whether or not this is the case must be left for others to determine. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.