Myth, ritual, memory, and exchange

"This book contains the most significant essays written by John Gould over the last thirty years (some now regarded as classics), including several not previously published. Newly revised, with reference both to corroborative material and to subsequent treatments and discussion of significantly different approaches to the same topics, these papers offer a marked coherence of focus and argument which informs the whole volume. Most of the essays arise out of the experience of teaching and address problems, puzzles, and misunderstandings encountered by students. The heart of the book is a concern with the interaction between the cultural assumptions and world-view of ancient (and often of modern) Greeks and their literature. An overriding interest in anthropological fieldwork runs through the book and helps to shape its argument."--Jacket.