Character, narrator, and simile in the Iliad
By: Jonathan L. Ready
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 323
ISBN-13: 9780521190640
Subjects: Simile; LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Ancient, Classical & Medieval
Description: "Jonathan L. Ready offers the first comprehensive examination of Homer's similes in the Iliad as arenas of heroic competition. This study concentrates primarily on similes spoken by Homeric characters. The first to offer a sustained exploration of such similes, Ready shows how characters are made to contest through and over simile not only with one another but also with the narrator. Ready investigates the narrator's similes as well. He demonstrates that Homer amplifies the feat of a successful warrior by providing a competitive orientation to sequences of similes used to describe battle. He also offers a new interpretation of Homer's extended similes as a means for the poet to imagine his characters as competitors for his attention. Throughout this study, Ready makes innovative use of approaches from both Homeric studies and narratology that have not yet been applied to the analysis of Homer's similes"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 275-296) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: Introduction; 1. The simile and the Homeric comparative spectrum; 2. Similes and likenesses in the character-text; 3. A preparation for reading sequences of similes; 4. Sequences of similes in the character-text; 5. Narrator, character, and simile; 6. Similes in the narrator-text; Conclusion: The Odyssey compared.