Homer's traditional art.

A leading scholar in the field of the epic oral tradition, Foley (Univ. of Missouri, Columbia) provides a highly intelligent and intelligible work of synthesis and clarification. Drawing on some of his own previously published work and on a wide and expert knowledge of research in the field, the author focuses on the critical question of how the roots of the Homeric poems in an oral tradition affect the reader's appreciation of them as works of literature. Chapter titles include "Homer's Sign-Language, " "Homeric and South Slavic Epic," and "Reading Homer's Signs"; Foley concludes with a rereading of Odyssey 23. What impresses most in this study is the author's capacity for intelligent synthesis and compromise on subjects on which scholars have taken intensely competitive opposing positions over the decades. Foley shows how these competitive positions can actually work together toward the common and primary goal of a full understanding of the great Homeric poems. The main text will serve the needs of upper-level undergraduate students as well as advanced scholars; endnotes and appendixes contain material useful only to professional classicists. L. Golden; Florida State University