A narratological commentary on the Odyssey /

Dutch scholar Jong is well known for her contributions to Homeric studies in the field of narratology. Her Narrators and Focalizers (1987) illuminated the poet's narrative techniques in the Iliad and has become a classic among those interested in narratological approaches. The present work on the Odyssey takes the form of a running commentary on the poem. Unlike Jong's earlier work, it has the virtue of being relatively free of specialized jargon and formulas, and it offers a glossary of technical terms at the beginning; the writing throughout is clear. However, the narrow focus of the commentary means that the book fails to provide much of what commentaries normally do. Rather, as the author says, it is a metacommentary, addressed to readers already acquainted with the Odyssey. Given that most of the Greek has been translated (not, as stated in the preface, all of it), Greekless readers as well as scholars with classical Greek will be able to profit from Jong's detailed analyses and deep knowledge of Homer's text, though here and there they will be puzzled by observations addressed to the specialist. Recommended for upper-division undergraduate and graduate/research collections. P. Nieto Brown University