Book, Homeric questions[LS]

Written text is one of the great markers of human knowledge. When established, it consolidates itself as a version of history capable of crossing the centuries and establishing itself as an absolute truth, or almost so. Until other evidence, discoveries and research and analysis methods are gathered to disprove it. Contesting, in this case, means deepening the analysis, debate and gathering of arguments capable of shaking the foundations of that framework. When Gregory Nagy looks at the classical texts attributed to Homer, this is what he brings: evidence, arguments and a new, solid, but disruptive interpretation, taking the foundations of classical culture - The Iliad and the Odyssey - attributed to talent of a notable historian, Homer, into the field of enigma: were they written by this author or are they the result of decades of oral transmission? A mystery that renews even more the brilliance and importance, if that is possible, of these two masterpieces of human culture. Scholars of classical texts have long been involved with the Homeric Questions. It does not seem absolutely clear to them that the two great Greek poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, were works written by a single author, Homer. They suspect that behind this name hides the shaping influence of the epic tradition over a long period of composition and oral transmission. In this investigation, Professor Gregory Nagy applies many of the insights of comparative linguistics and anthropology, offering the reader a new historical model for understanding how, when, where and why the two epics were collected and established as written texts. His model of analysis is based on comparative evidence provided by living oral epic traditions, in which each performance of a song often involves a recomposition of the narrative. Nagy's book is essential reading for all scholars and those interested in the classics and oral traditions.