A Referential Commentary and Lexicon to Homer, Iliad VIII (Oxford Classical Monographs) - Hardcover

Kelly, Adrian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199203555 ISBN 13: 9780199203550

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2007

Synopsis

This book aims to provide the reader of Homer with the traditional knowledge and fluency in Homeric poetry which an original ancient audience would have brought to a performance of this type of narrative. To that end, Adrian Kelly presents the text of Iliad VIII next to an apparatus referring to the traditional units being employed, and gives a brief description of their semantic impact. He describes the referential curve of the narrative in a continuous commentary, tabulates all the traditional units in a separate lexicon of Homeric structure, and examines critical decisions concerning the text in a discussion which employs the referential method as a critical criterion. Two small appendices deal with speech introduction formulae, and with the traditional function of Here and Athene in early Greek epic poetry.

About this title

About the Author

Adrian Kelly is Fulford Junior Research Fellow at St Anne's College, Oxford University.

Review

The principal strength of this work is its patient amassing of a large body of material that allows us to appreciate Book 8's rich and complex intratextual referents. The work has established its author as a 'promakhos' in the field of Homeric studies, and I look forward to reading and profiting from his future research. * Classical Review * A whole thesaurus of motifs and narrative patterns are at [the reader's] disposal, as if he was able to watch not just the end product but also the very process of Homeric composition. In a nutshell, he is virtually plunged into a universe of narrative associations, into the variegated tapestry of Homeric song. . . . Homeric scholars will definitely need to consult it . . . the author has to be praised for the wealth of information he has put at our disposal. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review * We are faced with, therefore, a precise book, which proceeds step by step, which bases itself on each verse through the Homeric text to draw conclusions that are sensible and, when there is an opportunity for it, very clear. At first sight pretty austere, this commentary will deserve to be consulted attentively, not only when one reads Book VIII, but also when one encounters in the other Books one of the two hundred and twenty one expressions or situations studied in the Lexicon. * Alain Blanc, Revue des Etudes Grecques * Details that seem at first to be mere fillers are given deeper significance by Kelly ...illuminating. * James Clackson, Times Literary Supplement * Kelly's excellent book will enable scholars to ponder problems with greater clarity and with an enhanced understanding of the resonances of Homeric poetry * Professor G. L. Huxley, Hermathena * Kelly's work makes an important contribution to the fundamental question: how and what does Homer communicate? * Jenny Strauss Clay, Religious Studies Review *

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0199203555
• ISBN 13: 9780199203550
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 528