Rediscovering Homer
Inside the Origins of the Epic
Format:Paperback
Publisher:WW Norton & Co
Published:17th Aug '07
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Scholar Andrew Dalby delves into the world that first heard the Odyssey and the Iliad, asking new questions about the poet named Homer. Rediscovering Homer follows the growth of the legend of Troy from a kernel of historical truth into an unforgettable story that a succession of singers re-created for generations of audiences. Dalby asks why and how the two great epics crossed the frontier from song to writing while finding new approaches to the personality of Homer and showing how the earliest evidence has been misread. He makes a powerful case that both poems are the work of a single poet, but it is his conclusion that will surprise even serious classical scholars: Homer was most likely a woman.
"We will never know precisely how the Iliad and the Odyssey made their way into writing. And we will always ask. Rediscovering Homer opens up for an intelligent non-specialist reader what is at issue when we ask such questions, and it does so in a clear and attractive manner." Matthew Leigh, The Times Literary Supplement "Rediscovering Homer enables the general reader to understand the art of oral poetics and how and when the Iliad and the Odyssey might have been composed. These are big questions and they are discussed at length." The Times Higher Education Supplement "Andrew Dalby summarises with great clarity the contents and significance of the two great works as they have survived." John Sutherland, Financial Times"
ISBN: 9780393330199
Dimensions: 211mm x 142mm x 20mm
Weight: 376g
302 pages