Homeric Epic and its Reception

Interpretive Essays

Seth L. Schein

A collection of essays on the themes, language, and style of the Iliad and Odyssey, written by leading Homeric scholar Seth L. Schein
Includes two chapters which focus on the influential work of Milman Parry and Ioannis Kakridis
Provides English translations of all ancient Greek extracts

Homeric Epic and its Reception

Interpretive Essays

Seth L. Schein

Description

Homeric Epic and its Reception, comprising twelve chapters--some previously published but revised for this collection, and others appearing here in print for the first time--offers literary interpretations of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite. While some chapters closely study the diction, meter, style, and thematic resonance of particular passages and episodes in the Iliad and the Odyssey, others follow diverse pathways into the interpretation of the epics, including mythological allusion, intertextuality, the metrics of the Homeric hexameter, and the fundamental contrast between divinity and humanity. Also included are two chapters which focus on the work of Milman Parry and Ioannis Kakridis, founders of the two most fruitful twentieth-century scholarly approaches to Homeric scholarship: the study of the Iliad and the Odyssey as traditional oral formulaic poetry (Parry), and the study of the poems' adaptations and transformations of traditional mythology, folktales, and poetic motifs in accordance with their distinctive themes and poetic purposes (Kakridis). The volume draws to a close with three chapters which discuss some of the most compelling poetic and critical receptions of the Iliad and the Odyssey since the late nineteenth century, and the institutional reception of the epics in colleges and universities in the United States over the past two centuries. Written over a period of 45 years, this collection reflects the author's long-standing interest in, and scholarly and critical approaches to, the literary interpretation of Homeric poetry.

Homeric Epic and its Reception

Interpretive Essays

Seth L. Schein

Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The Death of Simoeisios: Iliad 4.474-489
2. The Horses of Achilles in Book 17 of the Iliad
3. Odysseus and Polyphemos in the Odyssey
4. Mythological Allusion in the Odyssey: Herakles and the Bow of Odysseus
5. Divine and Human in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite
6. Homeric Intertextuality: Two Examples
7. A Cognitive Approach to Greek Meter: Hermann's Bridge in the Homeric Hexameter and the Interpretation of Iliad 24
8. Milman Parry and the Literary Interpretation of Homeric Poetry
9. Ioannis Kakridis and Neoanalysis
10. Cavafy and Iliad 24: A Modern Alexandrian Interprets Homer
11. 'War, What is it Good For' in Homer's Iliad and Four Receptions?
12. An American Homer for the Twentieth Century
Bibliography
Indexes

Homeric Epic and its Reception

Interpretive Essays

Seth L. Schein

Author Information

Seth L. Schein taught Classics and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, Purchase College of the State University of New York, the University of California, Santa Cruz, Queens College and The Graduate School of the City University of New York, and the University of California, Davis from 1968 until he retired in 2012.

Homeric Epic and its Reception

Interpretive Essays

Seth L. Schein

Reviews and Awards

"The essays are remarkable for the consistency of the authors views despite the variousness of themes and topics...The readings themselves are sensitive and rewarding, neatly organized, and are at their best when they bring out interesting textures in the Homeric corpus primarily through techniques of close reading." --James I. Porter, Exemplaria Classica

"The quality of work is always high, and although some parts of the book are most appropriate for Homeric specialists, the general reader will find most of the contents informative and rewarding ... the reader will come away illuminated about the nature of both Homeric scholarship and Homeric poetics. Besides documenting a long and productive career in Homeric studies, the collection reads well in its ultimately cohesive interweaving of recurring topics. As a result, the book convincingly demonstrates the progressively rewarding nature of scholarship about the great Homeric epics." --Jonathan Burgess, The Classical World

"This book is the result of over four decades of Schein's study of the Homeric poems, and stands as a testament to his sensitive, thorough and engaging approach to Greek epic ... Schein's chapters together form a satisfying whole, which demonstrates his own contribution to Homeric scholarship while also looking forward to the future of the field and encouraging his readers to do the same." --Catherine Goode, Classical Review

"This slim volume, gathered from Schein's professional life, will certainly appeal to Homeric scholars and university libraries, and should be seriously considered by school libraries." --Anthony Verity, Classics for All