Bloom’s Modern Critical Views African American Poets: Wheatley–Tolson African American Poets: Hayden–Dove Edward Albee Dante Alighieri Isabel Allende American and Canadian Women Poets, 1930–present American Women Poets, 1650–1950 Hans Christian Andersen Maya Angelou Asian-American Writers Margaret Atwood Jane Austen Paul Auster James Baldwin Honoré de Balzac Samuel Beckett The Bible William Blake Jorge Luis Borges Ray Bradbury The Brontës Gwendolyn Brooks Elizabeth Barrett Browning Robert Browning Italo Calvino Albert Camus Truman Capote Lewis Carroll Miguel de Cervantes Geoffrey Chaucer Anton Chekhov G.K Chesterton Kate Chopin Agatha Christie Samuel Taylor Coleridge Joseph Conrad Contemporary Poets Julio Cortázar Stephen Crane Daniel Defoe Don DeLillo Charles Dickens Emily Dickinson E.L Doctorow John Donne and the 17th-Century Poets Fyodor Dostoevsky W.E.B DuBois George Eliot T.S Eliot Ralph Ellison Ralph Waldo Emerson William Faulkner F Scott Fitzgerald Sigmund Freud Robert Frost William Gaddis Johann Wolfgang von Goethe George Gordon, Lord Byron Graham Greene Thomas Hardy Nathaniel Hawthorne Robert Hayden Ernest Hemingway Hermann Hesse Hispanic-American Writers Homer Langston Hughes Zora Neale Hurston Aldous Huxley Henrik Ibsen John Irving Henry James James Joyce Franz Kafka John Keats Jamaica Kincaid Stephen King Rudyard Kipling Milan Kundera Tony Kushner Ursula K Le Guin Doris Lessing C.S Lewis Sinclair Lewis Norman Mailer Bernard Malamud David Mamet Christopher Marlowe Gabriel García Márquez Cormac McCarthy Carson McCullers Herman Melville Arthur Miller John Milton Molière Toni Morrison Native-American Writers Joyce Carol Oates Flannery O’Connor George Orwell Octavio Paz Sylvia Plath Edgar Allan Poe Katherine Anne Porter Bloom’s Modern Critical Views Marcel Proust Thomas Pynchon Philip Roth Salman Rushdie J D Salinger José Saramago Jean-Paul Sartre William Shakespeare William Shakespeare’s Romances George Bernard Shaw Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Alexander Solzhenitsyn John Steinbeck Jonathan Swift Amy Tan Alfred, Lord Tennyson Henry David Thoreau J.R.R Tolkien Leo Tolstoy Ivan Turgenev Mark Twain John Updike Kurt Vonnegut Derek Walcott Alice Walker Robert Penn Warren H.G Wells Eudora Welty Edith Wharton Walt Whitman Oscar Wilde Tennessee Williams Tom Wolfe Virginia Woolf William Wordsworth Jay Wright Richard Wright William Butler Yeats Émile Zola Bloom’s Modern Critical Views HOMER Updated Edition Edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom Sterling Professor of the Humanities Yale University Bloom’s Modern Critical Views: Homer—Updated Edition ©2007 Infobase Publishing Introduction ©2007 by Harold Bloom All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher For more information contact: Chelsea House An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Homer / Harold Bloom, editor — Updated ed p cm — (Bloom’s modern critical views) Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-7910-9313-1 (hardcover) Homer—Criticism and interpretation Epic poetry, Greek —Hisory and criticism Mythology, Greek, in literature I Bloom, Harold PA4037.H774 2006 883’.01—dc22 2006025325 Chelsea House books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755 You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www.chelseahouse.com Contributing Editor: Pamela Loos Cover designed by Takeshi Takahashi Cover photo © Peter Will/SuperStock Printed in the United States of America Bang EJB 10 This book is printed on acid-free paper All links and web addresses were checked and verified to be correct at the time of publication Because of the dynamic nature of the web, some addresses and links may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid Contents Editor’s Note vii Introduction Harold Bloom Special Abilities Scott Richardson 11 Aletheia and Poetry: Iliad 2.484–87 and Odyssey 8.487–91 as Models of Archaic Narrative Louise H Pratt Hexameter Progression and the Homeric Hero’s Solitary State Ahuvia Kahane Epic as Genre Andrew Ford 39 81 103 The Homeric Transformation of Bardic Poetry Richard Gotshalk This Voice Which Is Not One: Helen’s Verbal Guises in Homeric Epic Nancy Worman Homer as a Foundation Text Margalit Finkelberg 169 149 121 vi Contents The Space of Homilia and Its Signs in the Iliad and the Odyssey 189 D N Maronitis Chronology 205 Contributors 207 Bibliography 209 Acknowledgments Index 215 213 Editor’s Note My introduction contrasts the Iliad with the Hebrew Bible, and in particular with the archaic War Song of Deborah and Barak in Judges Scott Richardson examines the Homeric narrator’s powers, which are godlike but, like the gods’, are bound by fate, while Louise H Pratt mediates upon the relation between poetry and truth both in the Iliad and the Odyssey The paradox of vocal authority and written text, as exemplified by the Homeric hero, is set forth by Ahuvia Kahane Andrew Ford greatly illuminates Homer’s freedom in manipulating the conventions he had inherited from archaic song so as to create the epic genre, as we have come to know it from him, while Richard Gotshalk addresses the same process of transformation A feminist perspective is introduced in Nancy Worman’s consideration of Helen’s speech patterns as the representative of Nemesis, after which Margalit Finkelberg argues that the Homeric poems were deliberate revisions of the heroic tradition, and thus intended to usurp earlier epics In this volume’s final essay, D N Maronitis explains the Homeric theme of homilia—which can be marital, extra-marital, or friendship—and which is counterpointed with war in both the Iliad and the Odyssey vii HAROLD BLOOM Introduction Hektor in his ecstasy of power / is mad for battle, confident in Zeus, / deferring to neither men nor gods Pure frenzy / fills him, and he prays for the bright dawn / when he will shear our stern-post beaks away / and fire all our ships, while in the shipways / amid that holocaust he carries death / among our men, driven out by smoke All this / I gravely fear; I fear the gods will make / good his threatenings, and our fate will be / to die here, far from the pastureland of Argos / Rouse yourself, if even at this hour / you’ll pitch in for the Akhaians and deliver them / from Trojan havoc In the years to come / this day will be remembered pain for you / if you not (Iliad, Fitzgerald translation, bk 9, II 237–50) For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart Why abidest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field (Judges 5:15–18, King James version) Contributors HAROLD BLOOM is Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale University He is the author of 30 books, including Shelley’s Mythmaking (1959), The Visionary Company (1961), Blake’s Apocalypse (1963), Yeats (1970), A Map of Misreading (1975), Kabbalah and Criticism (1975), Agon: Toward a Theory of Revisionism (1982), The American Religion (1992), The Western Canon (1994), and Omens of Millennium: The Gnosis of Angels, Dreams, and Resurrection (1996) The Anxiety of Influence (1973) sets forth Professor Bloom’s provocative theory of the literary relationships between the great writers and their predecessors His most recent books include Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human (1998), a 1998 National Book Award finalist, How to Read and Why (2000), Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds (2002), Hamlet: Poem Unlimited (2003), Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? (2004), and Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine (2005) In 1999, Professor Bloom received the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Criticism He has also received the International Prize of Catalonia, the Alfonso Reyes Prize of Mexico, and the Hans Christian Andersen Bicentennial Prize of Denmark SCOTT RICHARDSON teaches at St John’s University He is the author of The Homeric Narrator LOUISE H PRATT teaches classics at Emory University She is the author of Lying and Poetry from Homer to Pindar: Falsehood and Deception in Archaic Greek Poetics 207 208 Contributors AHUVIA KAHANE teaches classics at Northwestern University and has worked on several books, including Diachronic Dialogues: Authority and Continuity in Homer and the Homeric Tradition He has edited The Oxford English-Hebrew Dictionary and has also been a co-author and co-editor ANDREW FORD is professor of classics at Princeton University His published work includes The Origins of Criticism: Literary Culture and Poetic Theory in Classical Greece as well as Homer: The Poetry of the Past RICHARD GOTSHALK teaches at the University of Montana He is the author of several works, including Beginnings of Philosophy in Greece and Temporality of Human Excellence: A Reading of Five Dialogues of Plato He also has edited books NANCY WORMAN teaches classics at Barnard College, Columbia University She has authored Cast of Character: Style in Greek Literature and also has published essays on Greek poetry and rhetorical theory MARGALIT FINKELBERG is professor and chair of classics at Tel Aviv University She has authored The Birth of Literary Fiction in Ancient Greece and Greeks and Pre-Greeks: Aegean Prehistory and Greek Heroic Tradition; she also has published numerous articles on Greek language, literature, and civilization D N MARONITIS is professor emeritus of pkhilosophy at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece He has written books, monographs, and essays on Homer, Herodotus, Hesiod, the ancient lyric poets, and modern Greek poetry and prose Bibliography Albracht, Franz Battle and Battle Description in Homer: A Contribution to the History of War, translated and edited by Peter Jones, Malcolm Willcock, and Gabriele Wright London: Duckworth, 2005 Alvis, John Divine Purpose and Heroic Response in Homer and Virgil: The Political Plan of Zeus Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1995 Bakker, Egbert J Poetry in Speech: Orality and Homeric Discourse Ithaca, N.Y.; London: Cornell University Press, 1997 Baldick, Julian Homer and the Indo-Europeans: Comparing Mythologies London; New York: I.B Tauris, 1994 Bebbington, D W The Mind of Gladstone: Religion, Homer, and Politics Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004 Benardete, Seth The Argument of the Action: Essays on Greek Poetry and Philosophy, edited by Ronna Burger and Michael Davis Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000 Bennett, Michael J Belted Heroes and Bound Women: The Myth of the Homeric Warrior-King Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1997 Beye, Charles Rowan Ancient Epic Poetry: Homer, Apollonius, Virgil Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993 Braund, Susanna, and Glenn W Most, eds Ancient Anger: Perspectives from Homer to Galen Cambridge, U.K.; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003 209 210 Bibliography Burgess, Jonathan S The Tradition of the Trojan War in Homer and the Epic Cycle Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001 Carlisle, Miriam, and Olga Levaniouk, eds Nine Essays on Homer Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1999 Carter, Jane B., and Sarah P Morris, eds The Ages of Homer: A Tribute to Emily Townsend Vermeule Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995 Clark, Matthew Out of Line: Homeric Composition beyond the Hexameter Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1997 Clarke, Michael Flesh and Spirit in the Songs of Homer: A Study of Words and Myths Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1999 Crotty, Kevin The Poetics of Supplication: Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1994 de Jong, Irene J F., ed Homer: Critical Assessments London; New York: Routledge, 1999 Dihle, Albrecht A History of Greek Literature: From Homer to the Hellenistic Period, translated by Clare Krojzl London; New York: Routledge, 1994 Emlyn-Jones, C., L Hardwick, and J Purkis, eds Homer: Readings and Images London: Duckworth in association with the Open University, 1992 Finkelberg, Margalit The Birth of Literary Fiction in Ancient Greece Oxford; New York: Clarendon Press, 1998 Foley, John Miles Homer’s Traditional Art University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999 Garner, Richard From Homer to Tragedy: The Art of Allusion in Greek Poetry London; New York: Routledge, 1990 Griffin, Jasper Homer London: Bristol Classical, 2001 Hershkowitz, Debra The Madness of Epic: Reading Insanity from Homer to Statius Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1998 Higbie, Carolyn Heroes’ Names, Homeric Identities New York: Garland, 1995 Kahane, Ahuvia The Interpretation of Order: A Study in the Poetics of Homeric Repetition Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1994 King, Katherine Callen Homer New York: Garland, 1994 Knox, Bernard MacGregor Walker Backing into the Future: The Classical Tradition and Its Renewal New York: W.W Norton, 1994 Bibliography 211 Latacz, Joachim Homer, His Art and His World, translated by James P Holoka Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1996 ——— Troy and Homer: Towards a Solution of an Old Mystery, translated by Kevin Windle and Rosh Ireland Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004 Lowenstam, Steven The Scepter and the Spear: Studies on Forms of Repetition in the Homeric Poems Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1993 McAuslan, Ian, and Peter Walcot, eds Homer Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Classical Association, 1998 O’Donnell, Mark Getting over Homer New York: Knopf, 1996 Pavlock, Barbara Eros, Imitation, and the Epic Tradition Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1990 Powell, Barry B Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet Cambridge, U.K.; New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, 1991 Pucci, Pietro The Song of the Sirens: Essays on Homer Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1998 Raaflaub, Kurt “A Historian’s Headache: How to Read ‘Homeric Society’?” In Archaic Greece: New Approaches and New Evidence, edited by Nick Fisher and Hans van Wees London: Duckworth, 169–193, 1998 Reece, Steve The Stranger’s Welcome: Oral Theory and the Aesthetics of the Homeric Hospitality Scene Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993 Romilly, Jacqueline de Hector Paris: Editions de Fallois, 1997 Rutherford, Richard Homer Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1996 Scully, Stephen Homer and the Sacred City Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1990 Seaford, Richard Money and the Early Greek Mind: Homer, Philosophy, Tragedy Cambridge, U.K.; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004 Shankman, Steven In Search of the Classic: Reconsidering the Greco-Roman Tradition, Homer to Valéry and beyond University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994 Sissa, Giulia, and Marcel Detienne The Daily Life of the Greek Gods, translated by Janet Lloyd Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2000 Spariosu, Mihai God of Many Names: Play, Poetry, and Power in Hellenic Thought from Homer to Aristotle Durham: Duke University Press, 1991 Van Duzer, Chet A Duality and Structure in the Iliad and Odyssey New York: P Lang, 1996 Acknowledgments “Special Abilities” by Scott Richardson From The Homeric Narrator: pp 109–139 © 1990 by Scott Richardson Reprinted by permission “Aletheia and Poetry: Iliad 2.484–87 and Odyssey 8.48–91 as Models of Archaic Narrative” by Louise H Pratt From Lying and Poetry from Homer to Pindar: Falsehood and Deception in Archaic Greek Poetics: pp 11–53 © 1993 by the University of Michigan Reprinted with permission of The University of Michigan Press “Hexameter Progression and the Homeric Hero’s Solitary State” by Ahuvia Kahane From Written Voices, Spoken Signs: Tradition, Performance, and the Epic Text, edited by Egbert Bakker and Ahuvia Kahane: pp 110–137 © 1991 by the president and fellows of Harvard College Reprinted by permission “Epic as Genre” by Andrew Ford From A New Companion to Homer, edited by Ian Morris and Barry Powell: pp 396–414 © 1997 by Koninklijke Brill Reprinted by permission of Brill Academic Publishers “The Homeric Transformation of Bardic Poetry” by Richard Gotshalk From Homer and Hesiod, Myth and Philosophy: pp 89–110 © 2000 by University Press of America Reprinted by permission “This Voice Which Is Not One” by Nancy Worman From Making Silence Speak: Women’s Voices in Greek Literature and Society, edited by André 213 214 Acknowledgments Lardinois and Laura McClure: pp 19–37 © 2001 by Princeton University Press Reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press “Homer as a Foundation Text” by Margalit Finkelberg From Homer, the Bible, and Beyond: Literary and Religious Canons in the Ancient World, edited by Margalit Finkelberg and Guy G.Stroumsa: pp 75–96 © 2003 by Koninklijke Brill NV Reprinted by permission of Brill Academic Publishers “The Space of Homilia and Its Signs in the Iliad and the Odyssey” by D N Maronitis From Homeric Megathemes: War–Homilia–Homecoming: pp 29–45 © 2004 by Lexington Books Reprinted by permission Every effort has been made to contact the owners of copyrighted material and secure copyright permission Articles appearing in this volume generally appear much as they did in their original publication—in some cases Greek text has been removed from the original article Those interested in locating the original source will find bibliographic information in the bibliography and acknowledgments sections of this volume Index abuse, Helen and, 151 accuracy, Catalog of Ships and, 62 Achilles, 87–91, 176–177 acknowledgment, gods and, 135 Adrasteia, 158 Aegimus, 113, 172 Aethiopis, 171 Aletheia, overview of, 44–48 aloneness See Mounos; Oios Amyclae, 173 Andromanche, Hector and, 189–190, 193–196 anthropomorphism, representation of gods and, 135–138 antipathetic relationship between war and homilia, 190 Apate, defined, 45 Aphrodite, 150, 154–155, 161, 194 archaic narrative klea andrôn and, 44 model passages of in Iliad and Odyssey, 40–45 overview of, 39–40, 72 Argos of Diomedes, 173 Aristeia, scene changes in, 13–14 aristocracies, criticism of, 178–180 aristocratic powers, gods as, 134–138 Aristotle epic poetry and, 177 history of epics and, 105–106 naming of literature styles and, 104 Asia Minor, migration to, 172 Asios, foreknowledge of death of, 32–34 astronomy, 181–182 battles, bird’s-eye views and, 20–21 Bible, 180–184 bird’s-eye view, of narrator, 18–21 blame, Helen and, 151–153, 158 Bloom, Molly, stream-ofconsciousness narration by, 28 Bronze Age, 172 catalog of ships, 57, 62, 67, 68 Catalogue of Women, 112–113 Catcher in the Rye, The, 29 censoring, role of gods and, 181 characters ignorance of in contrast to narrator, 31–32 movements of and scene changes, 17 as narrators, 22 Christianity, attitude toward Homer and, 183–184 chronology, prolepses and, 29 cinema, flow of images and, 84–86 215 216 codification of Homer, 180–182 collective memory, shaping of, 172–176 comedy, fiction and, 59 commemoration, traditional narrative and, 56–59 commemorative function, 41–42, 59–63 communal values, 179–180 companionate relations in Iliad, 189–190, 192–193 in Odyssey, 191 competition among poets, 70 conjugal relations in Iliad, 189–190 in Odyssey, 199–201 Constantinople, capture of, 184 continuity, 17–18, 82–84 contradictions, 178–179 controversy, 121 correspondence, scene changes and, 16–17 crates of Mallos, 181–182 creativity, 140 Cyclic Aethiopis, 171 Cyclic Nosti, 171 Cypria, 170–172 Death of Ivan Ilych, The, 29 deaths, foreknowledge of, 32–34 deictic fluctuation, 87–88, 91, 95 Demodocus, truth and, 64–66 Descent of Pirithous, 113 despair, 154 Diomedes Argos of, 173 Glaucus and, 189–190, 193, 196–197 distance, self-interest and, 65–67 divine circles in Iliad, 192 dogs, 151, 159 Index Dolon, foreknowledge of death of, 32 Dorian emergence, 172–173 drugs, Helen and, 159 Dynasts, The, 24–25 endings, bird’s-eye views and, 20 end of heroes, 175 epic cycle, 169, 177 epic heroes, in Homeric poetry, 86–95 epics advance knowledge in, 30 description of, 106–108 history of, 103–106 Iliad and Odyssey as, 103, 109–117 theme delimitation in, 108–109 traditional, 169–172 transformation to, 122–127 equality, social, 177 Eratosthenes, 182 ethics, 182–183 Eumelus, 177 Euripides, 150 events, privileged knowledge of narrators and, 22–24 excellence, Greek concept of, 180 extraconjugal relations in Iliad, 189–190 in Odyssey, 191, 200–201 extradiegetic narrators, 22 fall of Troy, 171–172 fidelity, Helen and, 150 fixity, 17–18, 82–84 folklore, fiction and, 58–59 foreknowledge, of narrator, 29–34 Frankenstein, 29 function, commemorative, 41–42, 59–63 Index future, privileged knowledge of narrators and, 22–24 Glaucus, Diomedes and, 189–190, 193, 196–197 glories of men, 44, 63–64 gods privileged knowledge of narrators and, 23–24 religion and, 181–182 representation of, 134–138 revelation of plot by, 34 Greek epics See epics Greeks, bible of, 180–184 growth, monumental epics and, 122–123 Hades, dogs and, 151 Hardy, Thomas, 24–25 hearing, scene changes and, 14–15 Heart of Darkness, The, 30 Hector Andromanche and, 189–190, 193–196 death of, 33, 34 Helen and, 156–157 Helen character of, 149–152 painless story and, 158–164 Paris and, 155–156, 190, 194 as voice of nemesis, 152–158 heroes, end of, 175 heroism, 122, 192 Hesiod, 68, 113–114, 177 hexameter, 82–83 See also rhythm history, commemorative fiction vs., 60–61 Hitchcock, Alfred, scene continuity and, 18 Homeric Hymn to Apollo, 54 Homeric Hymn to Dionysus, 50–51, 52–53 217 Homeric narrative, function of, 48–49 Homeric poetry localization, silence, and reality in, 84–86 oios, mounos, and epic hero and, 86–95 properties of, 81–82 rhythm and, 82–84, 97–98 Homilia in Iliad, 195–196 as main theme in Iliad, 189–190 as main theme in Odyssey, 190–191 space in Iliad and, 192–193 Homodiegetic narration, 22 honor, 135, 178–179 humans See mankind Hymn to Apollo, 54 Hymn to Dionysus, 50–51, 52–53 ignorance, of characters vs narrators, 31–32 Iliad aloneness of hero in, 87–91 bird’s-eye views in, 19–20 as epic, 109–117 honor and, 178–179 importance of Achilles and, 176–179 inner vision of narrator in, 24–28 main themes of war and homilia in, 189–190 as model of archaic narrative, 40–45 as monumental epic, 123–124 polis and, 176–180 predestination in, 29–30 prelude of, 31 privileged knowledge of narrators in, 23–24 218 Index revelation of plot by god or prophet in, 34 scene continuity in, 17 space in, 192–193 Trojan War and, 170–172 Iliad 2, poetics of archaic narrative and, 43–44 Iliad 3, scene changes in, 16–17 “Immanent Will”, 24–25 Immoralist,The, 29 injuries, privileged knowledge of narrators and, 23 inner vision of narrator, 24–28 innovation, archaic narrative and, 49–56 interpretation of truth, 50–53 introduction, bird’s-eye views and, 19–20 Iste, defined, 44 Klea andrôn, 44, 63–64 Kleos, 44 knowledge Helen and, 163 Muses and, 40, 44, 48–49, 67–69 of narrator, 21–24, 24–28, 29–34 privilege of, 21–22 Laughter in the Dark, 30 localization, in Homeric poetry, 84–86 Lolita, 29 maiden’s songs, 115 mankind, 131–134, 180, 192 marriage, Helen and, 150, 158 Marriage of Ceryx, 113 Melampodia, 172 memory, 44–48, 172–176 Menelaus, 160–161, 174, 177 mental activity, verbalization and, 27–28 meter See rhythm Metrodorus of Lampascus, 181 mimic, Helen as, 151 mind reading, 25–28 mimesis, 177 Mnêstêrophonia, 199–201 mobility, privilege of, 21–22 morals, 182–183 Mounos, in Homeric poetry, 91–96 Mount Olympus, in Iliad, 192 mouvance, 82 movements of characters, 17 Muses Helen and, 152, 158–159 history of epics and, 107–108, 110–111 knowledge and, 40, 44, 48–49, 67–69 Odyssey and, 128–131 poetic truth and, 41, 67–69 role of, 69–71 truth and, 54–55, 128–131 Mycenaean migration, 172–173 myths, 127–128, 138–142 narrator See also archaic narrative bird’s-eye view of, 18–21 foreknowledge of, 29–34 inner vision of, 24–28 power of, 11–12, 35 privileged knowledge of, 21–24 scene changes and, 12–18 Naupactia, 172 nontextual properties localization, silence, and reality and, 84–86 oios, mounos and, 86–96 rhythm and, 82–84, 97–98 Nostoi, 190–191 Odysseus as epic narrator, 117 Index Helen and, 158–162 Penelope and, 199–200 temporal dislocation of narrative and, 124 truth and, 40–41, 64–66 Odyssey Aletheia and, 45 conjugal relations in, 199–201 as epic, 109–117 fall of Troy and, 171–172 fiction in, 55–56 inner vision of narrator in, 24–28 main themes of war and homilia in, 190–191 as model of archaic narrative, 40–45 as monumental epic, 124–126 mounos in, 92–96 Muses and, 128–131 predestination in, 29–30 prelude of, 31 scene continuity in, 17 space in, 198–201 Odyssey 1, scene changes in, 14–15 Odyssey 5, scene changes in, 12–13 Odyssey 8, poetics of archaic narrative and, 43–44 oios, in Homeric poetry, 86–91 omniscience access to private thoughts and, 28 of Homer, 21–22 inner vision of narrator and, 25 Muses and, 67–69 Ophelon phrase, 154 oral tradition See Nontextual properties Orestes, 174 Palinode, 53 paradigms, Helen as, 149–150 219 Paradise Lost, history of epics and, 105 parallelism, scene changes and, 16–17 Paris, Helen and, 155–156, 190, 194 Parthenia, 115 past, linkage of to present, 125 pathos, death of Patroklos and, 33 Patroclus, 115–116 Patroklos, death of, 32–33 Penelope, Odysseus and, 199–200 perception, scene changes and, 14–15 performance, history of epics and, 106–107 personified interchanges, 28 “phantom intelligences”, 24–25 Pickwick Papers,The, 52 Plato, censoring and, 181 Plutarch, 182–183 poetry, truth and, 39–40, 67–69 poets, 40–42, 69–71 power of narrator, 11–12, 35 predestination, 29–30 preludes, 31 present, linkage of to past, 125 Priam, Helen and, 152–153 privileged knowledge, of narrator, 21–24 prolepses, 29, 30, 31, 32 prophets, revelation of plot by, 34 pseudos, defined, 45 race of heroes, 176 reality, 84–86, 127 reenactment, 170–171 religion, 138–141, 180–184 repetition, hexameter and, 98–99 reports, Muses and, 44 respect, gods and, 135 rhythm 220 function of, 82–83 naming of literature styles and, 104 semantics of, 83–84, 97–98 Rome, history of epics and, 105 Rope, scene continuity in, 18 sacrifice, gods and, 135 sameness, 17–18, 82–84 scene changes, narrator, 12–18 science, 181–182 self-abuse, Helen and, 151 self-interest, distance and, 65–67 semantics, 83–84, 97–98 ships See Catalog of Ships silence, in Homeric poetry, 84–86 similes, use of, 125 singing, history of epics and, 103–107, 108–109 sirens, Helen and, 152 social equality, lack of, 177 Socrates, views of, 59 Sophia, 43 space, 192–193, 198–201 Sparta, 173, 174 speech, Helen and, 152–158, 159, 163–164 Stoics, 181–182 stream-of-consciousness narration, 28 supernatural powers, narrator’s powers and, 34 symbolism, in myths, 136 sympathy, death of Patroklos and, 33 Telemachus, 162–163 temporal dislocation, in narratives, 123–124 textual properties of Homeric poetry, 81–83 Theagenes of Rhegium, 181 Index Floating Admiral, The, foreknowledge in, 29 Theogony, 111–114 Theomachia, scene changes in, 15–16 thoughts of others, privileged knowledge of narrators and, 22–24 Tiryns, 173 Tom Jones, scene changes in, 12–13 traditional narrative, commemoration and, 56–59 transformations monumental epics and, 122–127 myths and, 138–142 overview of, 121–122 truth and, 127–138 Trojan horse, 162 Trojan subjects, 170 Trojan War, 164, 170–172, 175 Trojan Women, 150 truth See also Aletheia Aletheia as excursus and, 44–48 as basic issue, 127–128 commemoration and traditional narrative and, 56–59 commemorative fiction and, 59–63 distance and self-interest and, 64–67 Homeric narrative and, 48–49 innovation and variation in, 49–57 interpretation of, 50–53 klea andrôn and, 63–64 Muses and, 67–69, 69–71, 128–131 poetry and, 39–40 representation of gods and, 134–138 representation of mankind and, 131–134 Index Ulysses, stream-of-consciousness narration in, 28 V., privileged knowledge of narrators in, 22–23 values, 182–183 variation, archaic narrative and, 49–56 verbalization, mental activity and, 27–28 Virgil, history of epics and, 105 view, bird’s eye, 18–21 vision, inner, 24–28 221 Wars disruptive influence of, 190 homilia in Iliad and, 195–196 in Iliad, 123–124 as main theme in Iliad, 189–190 as main theme in Odyssey, 190–191 in Odyssey, 199–200 space of, 197 wholeness, 123 wisdom, poets and, 43 Works and Days, 68, 113–114 wrath of Achilles, 170–172 ... Bloom’s Modern Critical Views HOMER Updated Edition Edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom Sterling Professor of the Humanities Yale University Bloom’s Modern Critical Views: Homer Updated... Cataloging-in-Publication Data Homer / Harold Bloom, editor — Updated ed p cm — (Bloom’s modern critical views) Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-7910-9313-1 (hardcover) Homer Criticism and...Bloom’s Modern Critical Views African American Poets: Wheatley–Tolson African American Poets: Hayden–Dove Edward