DESCRIPTION
George Steiner and Robert Fagles have dedicated this volume to “the principle of delight.” Its chief aim is to lead the reader to the humor, pathos, tragedy and joy, manliness and delicacy of Homer. The Iliad and the Odyssey are viewed here through the eyes of the critic, poet, scholar, translator, and anthropologist; they are appraised from the Marxist, the philosophic, the allegorical, and the poetic standpoint, among others. The Homeric Question-the centuries-old mystery of authorship-is a fascinating enigma. Opinions range from the assertion by some scholars that the epics consist primarily of formulas transmitted by an oral tradition through myriad “authors” to the (only half-humorous) contention of Samuel Butler and Robert Graves that Homer was a woman…