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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating History, Nothing "Bold" or "Audacious", August 28, 2006
This review is from: Rediscovering Homer: Inside the Origins of the Epic (Hardcover)
The Publisher's Weekly review evaluates this book perfectly: The historical evidence for the existence of the Trojan War is fascinating, and the specific evidence and conclusions presented by Andrew Dalby are highly possible, but the book contain a major flaw. He digs through a variety of Egyptian, Hittite, and Greek sources to argue that the Trojan War of Homer--and the major characters, such as Paris--are collapsed versions of a variety of historical events that took place in the 100+ years before the composition of the original oral epic. He may be wrong, but he supplies evidence and reaches for conclusions that are at least moderately supported.
The problem comes with his "bold assertion" (as the publishers call it on the jacket) that Homer was a woman. Well, so what? It has been stated before, and few would be particularly upset if it were proven to be true, so there is nothing "bold" in it. The real weakness comes from Dalby's weak evidence and his loosely constructed logic. Even more glaring is that this assertion doesn't seem essential to the book itself. This book is really a collection of thoughts and ideas related to various aspects of Homer's texts, and the Homer as Female thesis is a weak attempt to provide a controlling idea. However, Dalby only presents this thesis 2/3 of the way through the book and then quickly moves on. It's a way to stand out, and perhaps a way to sell a few more books, but it isn't very important.
This is a good book and an interesting book when it allows itself to be what it is: an educated collection of thoughts related to history, oral literature, and Homer. It's when it pretends to be something else that it fails.
Read the parts that interest you and ignore the rest.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Why you might want to read this study, December 27, 2007
This is no book of an afternoon. It challenges even a hell educated reader, indeed its roots are such that they are deeper than many PhD's in literature are capable of delving.Three clearly different segments, notes, a guide to other readings, and a bibliography constitute a scholarly treatise.
While other reviewers write of the premise that "Homer" was a woman as a difficult stretch, I am inclined to ignore the idea under the conclusion that it has little relevancy for my readings of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and a suspicion that such a claim may be an illustration of the fashionable readings of the two works that Dalby discusses throughout.
His discussion of historic parallels and potential geographical place identifications relating to the Trojan War is a substantial part of the work. So if you are interested in linguistic Schliemannism, this is a good source.
The discussion of the major changes that took place in twentieth century understanding of the nature of oral poetry, the role of Milman Parry, Lord, and Murko - while employed for proof of the female Homer premise- is both a concise history of scholarship and reveals much about lengthy oral poetry. Again a good reason to read this book.
Needless to say, the vast discussion about "Oral" poetry is of serious merit. The relationship of performance to text opens up the entire author/text/audience question of modern critical theory. Since oral poetry is always changing from performance to performance, what happens when it is written down. Modern critics need to consider the ideas.
But what about the Phaedo? We remember that bit about the orphan word, written and without its "fathering mind" to defend it. Dalby looks extensively at practice, concepts, pronunciation and other matters of ancient Greek poetry. This is a motherlode of valuable data.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What he said. . ., June 26, 2007
Brickbat70's response to Dalby's book is a good one. With my five-star rating, however, I am more forgiving of the author's few less-convincing arguments. Certainly his discussion of the Paris-Alexandros question is a stretch--one that covers too much ground to satisify. The female authorship issue notwithstanding (an idea that has been around at least since Butler), Dalby's broader discussion of gender relations and conflict in the epics is sensible and at times enlightening. This book is a very useful and informed contemporary discussion of the conversion of oral composition to written text. Unlike so many others, Dalby avoids the "we-can't-really-know-anything-about-Homer" refrain whenever possible, preferring instead to make reasonable assertions based on history, language, and close reading. I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in the field.
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