Homer, His Art and His WorldPublished to great success in Europe, Joachim Latacz's bookHomer, His Art and His Worldis now widely available to an English-speaking audience.Homer, His Art and His Worldtakes Homer out of the preserve of specialists, and carefully outlines the historical background to Homer and his poetry. Current perspectives on the Iliad and the Odyssey are explained clearly, and narrow philological questions are deliberately avoided. Written in an accessible style for lovers of Homer and all who would like to be, Latacz's book brings Homer closer to the modern audience as a poet, and not as a historical source.Homer, His Art and His Worldincludes sections on the relevance of Homer to modern issues in literary criticism; on contemporary culture and history, including the Mycenaean era; the renaissance of the eighth century B.C.E.; and the poetical context of Homer's work; as well as specific chapters on theIliadandOdysseyand features peculiar to each poem. Homer, His Art and His Worldwill be of interest to a broad range of readers, including those interested in the literary history of Western culture. Joachim Latacz is Professor of Greek at the University of Basel, Switzerland. James P. Holoka is Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Eastern Michigan University. |
Contents
The New Relevance of Homer | 15 |
Homer as the Founder of Western Textuality | 17 |
The Poetic Quality of the Homeric Epics | 20 |
Homers Nearness | 21 |
The Person Environment Time and Work of Homer | 23 |
A False Track | 24 |
Homers Indirect SelfRepresentation | 30 |
Homers Identification with His Foremost Public the Nobility | 32 |
The Troy Saga and the Trojan War Myth and History | 82 |
The Plan of Action | 90 |
Akhilleid and Iliad | 106 |
The Mënis Theme | 122 |
The Theme of the Thetis Petition | 125 |
The Odyssey | 135 |
The Elaboration of the Theme | 139 |
The Program of the Poem | 141 |
Prosperity Collapse and Resurrection of the Greek Aristocracy | 35 |
Heroic Song as SelfValidation | 48 |
The Renaissance of the Eighth Century | 52 |
Homers Time and Place | 56 |
When and How | 59 |
The Homeric Iliad as the Poetry of Renewal and SelfCelebration | 65 |
A Feasible Portrait | 66 |
The Iliad | 71 |
The Telemakhia | 143 |
The Phaiakis | 145 |
Homecoming on Ithaka | 149 |
The Recognition of Odysseus and Penelope | 151 |
Abbreviations and Works Cited by Authors Name and Date | 157 |
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Common terms and phrases
1-Continued Day Scene action Agamemnon Aias Akhaians Akhilleid Akhilleus already ancient Apollo aristocratic army Asia Minor Athena Atreus audience battle beginning Burkert catastrophe century B.C. Coldstream 1977 combat corpse course Crete culture Cyprus Demodokos Diomedes eighth century Euboia excavations gods Greece Greek Hektor Helen Hera hero heroic song Hesiod Heubeck hexameter homecoming Homer scholars Homeric epics Homeric scholarship honor Iliad poet individual inscription Ionian island Ithaka Kalkhas Kalypso Khios Khryses Kyme later Lefkandi Lesky listener literary Menelaos modern reader Mycenaean Nestor nobility Odysseus Olympos oral original Paris Patroklos Penelope perspective Phaiakians poems poetic Poseidon Priam prooimion Pylos quarrel Reprinted in Latacz request of Thetis Schadewaldt settlements ships singer Skheria Smyrna story structure suitors TABLE 1-Continued Day technique Telemakhos textuality theme Thetis tion tradition Trojan War Trojans Troy saga verse whole wife wrath of Akhilleus writing Zeus