Title: The Odyssey : an epic of return /
Authors: Thalmann, William G., 1947-
Publisher: Twayne Publishers ; Maxwell Macmillan Canada ; Maxwell Macmillan International,
Year: 1992
Subjects: Homer.; Odysseus, In literature.; Epic poetry, Greek History and criticism.; Return in literature.
Abstract: Homer's two great epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, stand as cornerstones not only of Western literature but also of Western thought and culture, for although readers of two millennia have imitated or opposed these works' paradigm of character and action, few have ignored it. Where the Iliad strikes a heavy tone of tragic grandeur, the Odyssey evokes an atmosphere of adventure and fate. The latter work's key figure, Odysseus the restless wanderer, pervades our language and our thinking: his self-defining journey of experience and maturation has remained one of the world's most explored subjects of artistic expression. In his cogent reading of the Odyssey William G. Thalmann argues that, like its hero, the text is impossible to reduce to a single summary or set of oppositions. As presented in Homer's narrative, the polarities of nature versus civilization, war versus peace, action versus word, and force versus metis (intelligence) are fraught with ambiguity.^
Contents: [Pt. 1]. Literary and historical context. ch. 1. The eighth-century renaissance -- ch. 2. The importance of the work -- ch. 3. Critical reception -- [pt. 2]. A reading. ch. 4. The hero absent: books 1-4 -- ch. 5. The hero in transition: books 5-8 -- ch. 6. The hero wandering: books 9-12 -- ch. 7. The hero returned: books 13-24 -- ch. 8. Poetry in the Odyssey -- ch. 9. Unraveling the web.