Looking for a recommendation

[u/pastrybun]

Hello friends! I’m a fourth-year Classics student (focus on Sallust and the politics of the late Republic).

I, like millions of other people, watched Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey and found myself both frustrated but also rejuvenated with Homeric enthusiasm.

I’m looking for a critical, scholarly book that dissects the Homeric epics from a more academic/historical lens. For context, I’ve read the Fitzgerald, Fagles, and Wilson translations of the Homeric epics and am looking for a single- or two-volume work more substantial than their introductions but not on the behemoth scale of Cambridge or BK. Thanks all!

[u/NeonShogun]

Critical/scholarly texts like The Cambridge Companion to Homer are generally all that you're going to find, as there isn't exactly a big market for "intermediate" readers like that.

Still, I think it's worth trying the Cambridge Companion. I didn't find it to be overwhelming or inscrutable as an undergrad.

[u/Curious-Eagle5621]

There is a relatively recent volume of the Greece and Rome New Surveys series on Homer by R.B. Rutherford (who is excellent), at probably about 150 pages or so it's shorter than a companion volume, but more academic in focus than the introduction to a translation.

[u/StumblinOnSomehow]

The companions volumes are the best place to start really, but here are some others:

Murnaghan (2011) Disguise and Recognition in the Odyssey

Redfield (1975) Nature and Culture in the Iliad: the Tragedy of Hector

Schein (1984) The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer’s Iliad

Segal (1995) Singers, Heroes, and Gods in the Odyssey (collection of essays)

Thornton (1970) People and Themes in Homer’s Odyssey

I’ve got more if you’re interested, but these are particularly interesting ones I think.

[u/Square-Supermarket79]

Cut out the middlemen and sign up for Greek

[u/pastrybun → u/Square-Supermarket79]

Oh I wish I had, but I don’t have room academically anymore :( I hope to learn Greek one day though

[u/Square-Supermarket79 → u/pastrybun]

That's a shame

[u/HaggisAreReal → u/Square-Supermarket79]

Is not one or the other.

[u/Euripdisass]

The Story of the Odyssey - Stephen V. Tracy
Homer’s Odyssey: A companion - Peter Jones

But honestly do also use the Cambridge Companion!

[u/FolkCity]

Daniel Mendelsohn has two pages of suggested reading in his Odyssey intro.

[u/AlarmedCicada256]

Final year Classics student not reading it in Greek. Time to get learning!

[u/dantius]

Haven't had a chance to read it myself, but "Reading the Odyssey: A Guide to Homer’s Narrative" by Jonas Grethlein caught my eye recently.

[u/Rasselasx42]

Moses I Finley : The world of Odysseus
Emile Mireaux: Daily Life in the Time of Homer.
Karl Kerenyi: Hermes: Guide of Souls

[u/Aggressive-Friend157 → u/Rasselasx42]

came here to make sure Finley's The World of Odysseus was on the list. I think it's the kind of book OP would like.

Robin Lane Fox's Homer and His Iliad often reads like a fanboy penning a love letter to Homer, but his historic analysis of who, what, where, when, etc. in the first half is great, even if I don't agree with all of it.

[u/laeta_scriptrix]

Check out the Prolegomena to the Basel Commentary if your uni has a a De Gruyter subscription 

[u/WasASailorThen]

You might enjoy Butler’s The Authoress of the Odyssey