The epic tradition and its trans to rmation in classical literature

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Our research has proceeded steadily during the project term of two years. In the first year (1995) we made a general survey of Greek and Latin literature, especially of epic and other related genres such as lyric and drama. This survey contributed to an overall view of the extent and influence of the epic tradition. It is now published as a book for general readers on classical literature written by Itsumi. At the same time we tried to collect the literature and other materials necessary for the research. We also started analyzes of the original text of selected works from the viewpoints of both their formal and internal qualities. In the course of this investigation we found more clearly the importance of the innovation of the principle of poetry in Hellenistic and Roman era, and our concern moved towards such Hellenistic genres as epyllion, didactic and elegiac poetry. Thus in the second year (1996) we chose as the subject of our individual research the 'Phaenomena' of Aratus (Itsumi) and the 'Ars Amatoria' of Ovid (Oshiba). The former is a didactic poem, a pivotal work in the tradition from Greek to Latin didactic poetry, which is itself an important tributary of the epic tradition. And the latter stands near the end of the history of Roman love elegy, an peculier Latin development in the tradition of elegiac poetry, which is also a genre akin to epic. The results of our research have been published in "Jimbun Gakuho" No. 276. By this research we can not only realize anew the strong influence of the epic tradition in general but also make it certain that each individual work of the genres related to epic such as didactic poetry and love elegy makes its own conscious response to, and thus makes an contribution to, the narrower tradition to which it belongs. We hope we can continue and develop our research on the basis of these results.