Customer Reviews

An Introduction to Homer

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W.A. Camps' 1980 book AN INTRODUCTION TO HOMER is a brief (64-page) essay introducing the Iliad and Odyssey to students of literature. No knowledge of Greek is required, and any Greek language examples are accompanied by English translation.

Camps covers most of the necessary themes in reaching an appreciation of Homer's works. An overview of the plot of each poem and a description of its characters is provided. An admirable section on the society of Homer's Bronze Age Greece lets the reader better understand the world in which the action occurs. Camps gives a list of selected passages in translation to illustrate points he has made on the literary qualities of the novel. The second half of the essay is entirely concerned with the poetic medium. Metre and the use of metaphor are presented and compared to modern poetry. Sadly, Camps gives no explanation of irregular lines through digamma nor does he talk about the history of the field and the current adoration of Milman Parry's study of oral literature. I find it quite odd that Camps chose to transliterate the Greek examples for the sake of "accessibility", for readers with no knowledge of Greek will get little from them regardless of what alphabet they are written in.

While the content of Camps essay is unobjectionable, but its size is a problem. Not terribly detailed, it suggests lecture notes simply drawn up into a continuous text. One could find more detailed introductions to Homer for this same price. Furthermore, students of Greek will be able to find primers that deal simultaneously with the content and language of the Homeric epics. AN INTRODUCTION TO HOMER is an okay book, but there is nothing to especially recommend it.

This is a short introduction to the Iliad and the Odyssey. It is not very exciting but covers the standard academic territory pretty well. It has some nice sections in translation. Parts of it depend on having some knowledge of Greek. The author writes with the assured grace and precision of traditional British scholarship, which is always a pleasure to read. However the main thing this introduction has to recommend it is its brevity.