Nine Essays On Homer

The Essays In This Collections Address Questions Of Intense Interest In Homeric Studies Today: The Questions Of Performance And Poet-audience Interaction, Especially As Depicted In Idealized Performances Within The Iliad And The Odyssey; The Ways In Which Epic Incorporates Material Of Diverse Genres, Such As Womens Laments, Blame Poetry, Or Folk Tales; How The Ideological Balance Of Epic Can Change And Be Influenced By 'alternative Ideologies' Introduced Through The Incorporation Of Material; The Implications Of The Continuity Of Tradition For Etymological Studies; And How The Traditional Nature Of Epic Affects Textual Criticism. The Essays Differ In Focus And Method, But All Share One Fundamental Approach To Homer: An Understanding Of The Homeric Tradition As A Poetic System That Expresses And Preserves What Is Culturally Important And A View Of The Homeric Epics As Instances Of A Cultural Tradition Which They Attempt To Explore Through The Epics Themselves And Through The Comparative, Anthropological, And Linguistic Evidence They Bring To Bear On These Texts. A Unique Collection That Explores Homeric Poetry Through A Variety Of Tools And Approaches-linguistics, Philology, Cultural Anthropology, Sociology, Textual Criticism, And Archeology-this Volume Will Be Of Interest To All Scholars And Students Of Oral Poetry And Classical Literature.