Joseph Eddy Fontenrose (17 June 1903 in
Sutter Creek – July 1986 in
Ashland, Oregon
Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 in Oregon, 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 w ...
) was an American classical scholar. He was centrally interested in
Greek religion and
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
; he was also an expert on
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...
, commenting on the mythology in Steinbeck's work.
Fontenrose was born and raised in
Sutter Creek, California. He graduated in 1925 in Political Science at
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
, where he spent most of his academic career 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/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus".
...
.
His politics were known to be
socialist
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
. He gave public support in the early 1960s to the
Free Speech Movement 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 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
*
"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