Homer the preclassic / Gregory Nagy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nagy, Gregory.

Contributor:

Center for Hellenic Studies (Washington, D.C.)

Series:

Sather classical lectures ; v. 67.

Sather classical lectures ; v. 67

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Homer--Criticism and interpretation.

Homer.

Epic poetry, Greek--History and criticism.

Epic poetry, Greek.

Oral tradition--Greece--History--To 1500.

Oral tradition.

History.

Criticism and interpretation.

Greece.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 414 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2010]

System Details:

data file

Summary:

offers an overwhelming challenge to those who picture the Iliad and Odyssey as pneumatic posts, whooshing unchanged from a single authorial source onto the shelf of canonical Western texts. In a tour de force of precise scholarship and imaginative reconstruction, Nagy reexamines in full all the evidence relating to the historical reality of Homeric poetry in the period before the fifth century b.c.e. He demonstrates for the first time how deeply the constantly contested figure of Homer and the shifting body of poetry attributed to him are enmeshed in the ideologies of competitive festivals and performers, of religious cult and musical tradition, and of political federation, individual ambition, and ultimately, empire. Through Nagy's sensitive explorations of local lore, literary testimonia, and the findings of historians and archaeologists, we come to see this poetic heritage as the product of carefully calibrated reperformances, widening in time and space from Aeolic to Ionic to Athenian spheres of influence, while hearkening back to the era of the Trojan War itself. His boldly capacious view illuminates, among many topics, the tales of Homer's wandering life, the figures of Orpheus and Hesiod, the placement of Achilles' tomb, the poetics of state dedications in Athens, the history of pattern weaving, and the dialect phases of epic. Nagy's brilliant narrative marks the culmination of a lifetime spent investigating Homeric art, resulting in a highly variegated and hugely pleasurable book, fundamental for those who want to appreciate the beauties of epic." Book jacket.

Contents:

Homer and the Athenian empire

Homer outside his poetry

Homer and his genealogy

Homer in the Homeric Odyssey

Iliadic multiformities

Variations on a theme of Homer

Conflicting claims on Homer

Homeric variations on a theme of empire

Further variations on a theme of Homer

Homer and the poetics of variation.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 383-402) and index.

Print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Nagy, Gregory. Homer the preclassic.

ISBN:

9780520950245

0520950240

OCLC:

787846293