The Cambridge Companion to Homer (Cambridge Companions to Literature) [Paperback]

Robert Fowler (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521012465 | ISBN-13: 978-0521012461 | Publication Date: November 8, 2004

The two Homeric poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, have long been considered masterpieces, and their influence on subsequent Greek and Western literature has been immense. An international team of experts discusses the poems, their background and composition, and subsequent reception to the present day. Each chapter features contemporary critical insights and closes with a guide to further reading on the topic.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This fine installment in the "Cambridge Companions to Literature" series comprises 22 terse, original essays by recognized scholars and critics. The essays range over five areas of special concern in modern Homeric studies. Highly recommended." CHOICE May 2005

"Advanced readers of Homer will find much to interest them in these pages: the individual essays make stimulating points for those who already know a lot about Homer." - Deborah Beck, Swarthmore College

Book Description

Ever since antiquity the two Homeric poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, have been considered to be masterpieces, and their influence on subsequent Greek and Western literature has been immeasurable. In this volume an international team of experts discusses the poems, their background and composition, and, most originally, their subsequent reception down to the present day. Each chapter communicates the best of contemporary scholarship and offer new critical insights of its own, and closes with a guide to further reading on the topic.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 444 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (November 8, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521012465
• ISBN-13: 978-0521012461
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best detailed introduction to Homer, October 3, 2009

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This review is from: The Cambridge Companion to Homer (Cambridge Companions to Literature) (Paperback)

Back in the 1960s, Wace and Stubbings published their "Companion to Homer", an impressive collection of essays on a range of topics related to the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey. It remains one of the best books on Homer, though parts of it are now outdated, and though parts relating to literary interpretation feel a bit alien to 21st-century tastes. (It is not currently available from Amazon, sadly.)

A follow-up, the "New Companion to Homer", was published in 1996, edited by Ian Morris and Barry Powell. Morris is a highly-respected scholar. Even so, the "New Companion" had its ups and downs. It was certainly more up-to-date than Wace and Stubbings; but it left a sense of faint disappointment at what might have been.

Since then there have been a few more books designed as general introductions to Homer. There is one by Joachim Latacz; a variety of less reputable ones; and then there is this book.

Now, Latacz is an easier read than this book. He is more approachable. His book also really needs to be read as a whole; that may be either a virtue or a shortcoming depending on how you look at it. It is a good book.

This book, however, is the one everyone had been hoping that the "New Companion" would be. We have here a truly excellent, well-rounded book. It is still not up to the very, very high standard set by Wace and Stubbings; but it is more up-to-date, it is scholarly, it is accurate, it is informative, it is concise. Each chapter is an article in its own right and can (should) be read separately. The book is also very reasonably priced.

If you are in doubt as to which book to buy as an introduction to Homer, there is no contest: buy the "Cambridge Companion". Of the competitors, Latacz is the only one that even comes close.