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Homer's Traditional Art

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As John Miles Foley states in its preface, _Homer's Traditional Art_ is at its most fundamental level a response to the question "What difference does oral tradition make to our understanding of the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_?" That an ancient Greek oral tradition is intertwined with the fabric of the Homeric texts is now almost universally held by scholars to be a fact, but how does this traditional influence manifest itself and with what significance for us today? In formulating his answers to these questions, Foley first provides a foundation of comparative evidence, homemade proverbs, and basic observations on oral traditional texts in general and then proceeds to demonstrate the particular relevance of such items for Homeric poetry in particular. Throughout the book, the essential concepts are formulated in such a way as to be accessible for general students of varying backgrounds, while many insights useful to the professional Homeric scholar appear as well, especially in the substantial endnotes and appendices (including a comparative treatment of the Old English _Deor_).

Thus, Chapter 1 discusses the nature and dynamics of Homer's "signs" (Gk. _semata_), that is, elements within the poetry that index traditional meanings and knowledge, thereby reaching beyond their immediate or literal contexts in order to convey further implications for a tradition-aware audience. This indexing process (termed "traditional referentiality") can be found at every level of the poetry, from the smallest formula to the entire Homeric register as a whole. Chapters 2-4 provide comparative evidence for Homer via South Slavic oral poetry. After first reviewing the scholarly debates over the analogy, Chapter 2 then examines the parallel from the perspective of the singers themselves. Chapter 3 continues this examination and investigates the similarities and differences between the specialized languages of Homer and the South Slavic _guslari_. Chapter 4 then discusses the traditional referentiality of South Slavic poetry as it pertains to story-patterns, typical scenes, and formulas.

Having created a comparative framework from which to proceed, Foley uses the following sections of this book to explore the effects of oral tradition in the Homeric poems themselves. Chapter 5 focuses on the traditional story-pattern of the Return Song and its implications for Penelope's characterization and the unity of the _Odyssey_ (and the particular importance for its ending). Chapter 6 then examines the typical scenes of feast especially in the _Odyssey_) and lament (limited to the _Iliad_), while Chapter 7 details the nature of traditional referentiality in relation to Homeric phraseology. All of these observations on _Homer's Traditional Art_ then culminate in Chapter 8 in which Foley provides a close reading of an extended passage of the _Odyssey_ (from Book 23) that incorporates each of the traditional perspectives established in the preceding chapters and gives a very clear "sign" of his own, demonstrating the difference that an understanding of Homer's underlying oral tradition can make.