Joseph Eddy Fontenrose (17 June 1903, Sutter Creek – July 1986,

Ashland, Oregon Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population was 21,360 at the 2020 ...

) was an American classical scholar. He was centrally interested in Greek religion and

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

; he was also an expert on

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...

, commenting on the mythology in Steinbeck's work. He was from Sutter Creek, California. Most of his academic career was spent at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where he had graduated in 1925 in Political Science, after an instructor position he held from 1937. An early influence was Ivan Linforth. He was made a professor in 1955, chaired the classics department, and became

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. His politics were known to be

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

. He gave public support in the early 1960s to the

Free Speech Movement The Free Speech Movement (FSM) was a massive, long-lasting student protest which took place during the 1964–65 academic year on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. The Movement was informally under the central leadership of Be ...

and Young People's Socialist League. He showed a more conservative side in relation to student activism as it touched teaching."The Free Speech Movement"
/ref> 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 Baron Raglan, of Raglan in the County of Monmouth, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 20 October 1852 for the military commander Lord FitzRoy Somerset, chiefly remembered as commander of the British troops ...

and

Stanley Edgar Hyman Stanley Edgar Hyman (June 11, 1919 – July 29, 1970) was an American literary critic who wrote primarily about critical methods: the distinct strategies critics use in approaching literary Writing, texts. He was the husband of writer Shirley Jac ...

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

*
"Joseph Edward Fontenrose, Classics: Berkeley"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontenrose, Joseph 1903 births 1986 deaths American classical scholars Classical scholars of the University of California, Berkeley Scholars of Greek mythology and religion