Product Description: A story that follows a simple trajectory is seldom worth telling. But the unexpected overturning of narrative progress creates complexity and interest, directing the reader's attention to the most powerful elements of a story. Exile, for example, upsets a protagonist's hopes for a happy earthly life, emphasizing spiritual perception instead...read more

Product Description: This book examines how epic poetry reflects cultural values, and how, in epic poems, the heroes must meet supernatural beings to find answers to essential questions. The work begins with three chapters on ancient poetry. The first examines how the great epics of particular cultures (ancient Greece's Iliad and Odyssey, ancient India's Mahabharata) address specific questions or quests inspired by their culture and also define the heroic ideals of their culture and time period...read more