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From Library Journal
We might all wish that philosopher and classicist Brann had taught us Homer. Falling short of that, we can read Homeric Moments, a study of Homer's epics, the Odyssey and the Iliad, based on Brann's 40-year teaching experience at St. John's College in Annapolis, MD. Eschewing issues of contemporary theory or the technical concerns of classical philology, Brann instead focuses on a close reading of Homer's narrative and characters, with a concern for what makes them enduring and insightful. She draws attention to Homer's language, exploring the layers of verbal connotation, and she is especially interested in how Homer creates "delight," a pleasure that appeals to the senses and comes from the extended action and inward refiguring of the events narrated. Brann then contrasts this with the more intense pleasure of tragedy, where the purification of passions induces a more thoughtful response. Written with wit and clarity, this book will be of value both to those reading the Odyssey and the Iliad for the first time and to those teaching it to beginners. Recommended for public and academic libraries. T.L. Cooksey, Armstrong Atlantic State Univ., Savannah, GA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Fifty years of reading Homer — both alone and with students — prepared Eva Brann to bring the Odyssey and the Iliad back to life for today's readers. In Homeric Moments, she brilliantly conveys the unique delights of Homer's epics as she focuses on the crucial scenes, or moments, that mark the high points of the narratives: Penelope and Odysseus, faithful wife and returning husband, sit face to face at their own hearth for the first time in twenty years; young Telemachus, with his father Odysseus at his side, boldly confronts the angry suitors; Achilles gives way to boundless grief at the death of his friend Patroclus.

Eva Brann demonstrates a way of reading Homer's poems that yields up their hidden treasures. With an alert eye for Homer's extraordinary visual effects and a keen ear for the musicality of his language, she helps the reader see the flickering campfires of the Greeks and hear the roar of the surf and the singing of nymphs. In Homeric Moments, Brann takes readers beneath the captivating surface of the poems to explore the inner connections and layers of meaning that have made the epics "the marvel of the ages."

 

“Written with wit and clarity, this book will be of value to those reading the Odyssey and the Iliad for the first time and to those teaching it to beginners.”—Library Journal

"Homeric Moments is a feast for the mind and the imagination, laid out in clear and delicious prose. With Brann, old friends of Homer and new acquaintances alike will rejoice in the beauty, and above all the humanity, of the epics." —Jacob Howland, University of Tulsa, Author of The Paradox of Political Philosophy

 

Eva Brann is a member of the senior faculty at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, where she has taught for over forty years. Brann holds an M.A. in Classics and a Ph.D. in Archaeology from Yale University. Her recent books include The Ways of Naysaying; What, Then, Is Time?; and The World of the Imagination. A volume of her selected essays, The Past-Present, was published in 1997.

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