Joseph Fontenrose

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Joseph Eddy Fontenrose (17 June 1903,

Sutter Creek – July 1986, Ashland, Oregon) was an American classical scholar. He was centrally interested in Greek religion and Greek mythology; he was also an expert on John Steinbeck
, commenting on the mythology in Steinbeck's work.

He was from

professor emeritus
.

His politics were known to be

socialist. He gave public support in the early 1960s to the Free Speech Movement and Young People's Socialist League.[1][2] He showed a more conservative side in relation to student activism as it touched teaching.[3]

In his 1966 book, The Ritual Theory of Myth, he subjected the

myth-ritual theory to an intense attack, targeting the views of some of the associated scholars, particularly Lord Raglan and Stanley Edgar Hyman
.

Works

  • Python; a study of Delphic myth and its origins (1959)
  • John Steinbeck; an introduction and interpretation (1963)
  • The Ritual Theory of Myth (1966)
  • The Delphic Oracle: Its Responses and Operations (1978)
  • Orion: The Myth of the Hunter and the Huntress (1981)
  • Steinbeck's Unhappy Valley. A Study of The Pastures of Heaven (1981)
  • Classics at Berkeley, The First Century (1869-1970) (1982)
  • Didyma. Apollo's Oracle, Cult and Companions (1988)

Notes

External links