Untimely Epic: Apollonius Rhodius’ Argonautica

Untimely Epic offers a new interpretation of time in Apollonius Rhodius’ Argonautica. Whereas previous critics have focused predominantly on the structure of the narrative, this volume addresses how the poem shapes readers’ experience: employing a range of theoretical concepts drawn from ancient and modern criticism, it considers how the poem enables readers to imagine themselves into a distant world, in which they undergo experiences of time fundamentally removed from that of everyday experience. The poem also situates itself within various narratives of intellectual and literary change, and in doing so opens up to scrutiny the traditions within which its readers articulate their identities as subjects in and of history.