The Epic Hero (review)

THE COMPAKATIST One also discovers specifically European takes on Woolf, for instance, the immensely popular German selection from Leonard Woolfs autobiography entitled Mein Leben mit Virginia (1988), later translated first into Italian (1989), then into Danish (1991). Or one leams about Woolfs special status in France, where, despite her marked influence on French feminism from de Beauvoir to notions of écriture féminine, she remains virtually unknown as a feminist. To this day, Woolfs overtly feminist texts are received "as untranslatable in cultural terms, their topics and its [sic] treatment specific to England," as Laura Marcus writes apropos ofthe Editions Stock's rejection ofA Room ofOne's Own and 7Aree Guineas in the 1930s (331). Such a wealth of new information on Woolfs reception, instead of sating, leads one to be greedy for even more. One wishes, for example, there were chapters on the Netherlands and Belgium, Switzerland and Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic, ifnot on Estonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, and Bulgaria. One would like to read more about the reception of Woolf in fictional texts: Ana Maria Navales' Tres Mujeres (1995) as well as her earlier Cuentos de Bloomsbury (1991) are addressed, and the Three Marias' New Portuguese Letters (1972) are discussed in relation to the reception of Woolf. Yet one would like to see more attention accorded the popular reception ofWoolfas image and as text. Beresford's portrait ofthe young Virginia Stephen repeatedly surfaces in the various contributions, yet with the exception ofthe occasional reference to Sally Potter's Orlando, outside the introduction no mention is made offilms like Marleen Gorris's Mrs. Dalloway, let alone plays such as Bob Wilson's Orlando. Luckhurst suggests that "[t]he degree to which current readings of Woolf can be considered nation- or indeed Euroinflected is questioned not only by her reception within the academy but also by its counterpart, the popular reception" (15). While I would agree a form ofglobalization obtains with Hollywood-produced films like 77ie Hours, a range of local and/or national reception products also demands contextualized attention. To be sure, one cannot have it all, and the editors' choice to focus mostly on translation, reviews, and academic criticism is certainly justified, if only in terms of length (and price: the book is expensive enough as it is). As a first exploration of the European reception of Woolf in comparative perspective, it contains the seeds for many new areas of investigation. The volume's centrifugal movement, however, is somewhat disappointingly reversed with Laura Marcus's closing contribution that, after a fascinating account ofthe Hogarth Press's control over foreign translations ofWoolf, ends with a return to the Press's publications ofGerman and Russian translations that bears little direct relevance to the subject at hand. Liedeke PlateUniversity ofNijmegen DEAN A. MTLLER. The Epic Hero. Baltimore/London: Johns Hopkins U P, 2000. xiv + 501 pp. A persistent question plagues us every time we witness in an epic a figure who, admirably outstanding yet unabashedly proud, rushes to his own demise only after bringing carnage to a great many others. Why does an epic hero tend to act so arrogantly and destructively? Miller offers a convincing answer to this question, which arises with the emergence ofmodem consciousness, in light ofthe hero's functional social position and his essentially adolescent, flat interior. The inclusive title notVoI . 27 (2003): 181 REVIEWS withstanding, the objective ofthis extensive research is clear: to address, ifnot define , the elusive hero in Indo-European epics ofarchaic or feudalistic societies. What strikes us immediately is the broad scope ofknowledge involved. As a study ofIndo-European epic traditions, orally oriented or otherwise, it is expected, yet still highly impressive that the work abundantly cites pieces from every corner ofthat cultural frame for its database. This includes materials from Roman, Celtic (Irish, Welsh, continental), Germanic, Norse-Scandinavian, Icelandic, Balkan (Islamic pieces included), Caucasian, Persian, and Arian Indian sources, in addition to a self-confessed predilection for the two Homeric poems, especially the Iliad, which he considers not normatively typical but focally prominent. Despite his stated goal, however, Miller's perspective does not abide by a prescribed boundary, and he occasionally refers to sources outside of the targeted area, including...