The Making of the Odyssey [Lingua inglese] - Brossura

West OM, The Late M. L.

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0198810199 ISBN 13: 9780198810193

Casa editrice: Oxford University Press, 2017

Riassunto

The poet of the Odyssey was a seriously flawed genius. He had a wonderfully inventive imagination, a gift for pictorial detail and for introducing naturalistic elements into epic dialogue, and a grand architectural plan for the poem. He was also a slapdash artist, often copying verses from the Iliad or from himself without close attention to their suitability. With various possible ways of telling the story bubbling up in his mind, he creates a narrative marked by constant inconsistency of detail. He is a fluent composer who delights in prolonging his tale with subsidiary episodes, yet his deployment of the epic language is often inept and sometimes simply unintelligible.

The Making of the Odyssey is a penetrating study of the background, composition, and artistry of the Homeric Odyssey. Martin West places the poem in its late seventh-century context in relation to the Iliad and other poetry of the time. He also investigates the traditions that lie behind it: the origins of the figure of Odysseus, and folk tales such as those of the One-eyed Ogre and the Husband's Return.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

Martin West, who died in 2017 at age 77, was truly one of the great Hellenists of recent generations. His output was enormous and influential. He wrote over thirty books and many dozens of articles. I mention only his editions of Hesiod's Theogony (1966) and Works and Days, his Teubner edition of the Iliad (1998, 2000), and his magisterial The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth (1997). Here in his last book, published in hardback in 2014, he offers a companion to The Making of the Iliad: Disquisition and Analytical Commentary, published in 2011. ... West's book is useful for untangling the oral antecedents of Homer's poems" (Barry B. Powell, Bryn Mawr Classical Review)

Review from previous edition This is the late work of a scholar confident in the knowledge that he has read everything his opponents can throw at him, and has a well-researched answer for all of it. (Peter Green, The Times Literary Supplement)

This is a marvellous book by a superb scholar at the height of his powers (Peter Jones, Classics for All)

L'autore:

The late Martin Litchfield West was a Fellow and Praelector in Classics at University College, Oxford from 1963 to 1974, before taking up a post as Professor of Greek at the University of London where he remained until 1991, then becoming a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. After his retirement in 2004 he became an Emeritus Fellow of All Souls. HM The Queen appointed him a Member of the Order of Merit (OM) in the 2014 New Year Honours.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Oxford University Press
• Data di pubblicazione: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0198810199
• ISBN 13: 9780198810193
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 328