The Cambridge Companion to Homer (Cambridge Companions to Literature)

Back in the 1960s, Wace and Stubbings published their "Companion to Homer", an impressive collection of essays on a range of topics related to the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey. It remains one of the best books on Homer, though parts of it are now outdated, and though parts relating to literary interpretation feel a bit alien to 21st-century tastes. (It is not currently available from Amazon, sadly.)A follow-up, the "New Companion to Homer", was published in 1996, edited by Ian Morris and Barry Powell. Morris is a highly-respected scholar. Even so, the "New Companion" had its ups and downs. It was certainly more up-to-date than Wace and Stubbings; but it left a sense of faint disappointment at what might have been.Since then there have been a few more books designed as general introductions to Homer. There is one by Joachim Latacz; a variety of less reputable ones; and then there is this book.Now, Latacz is an easier read than this book. He is more approachable. His book also really needs to be read as a whole; that may be either a virtue or a shortcoming depending on how you look at it. It is a good book.This book, however, is the one everyone had been hoping that the "New Companion" would be. We have here a truly excellent, well-rounded book. It is still not up to the very, very high standard set by Wace and Stubbings; but it is more up-to-date, it is scholarly, it is accurate, it is informative, it is concise. Each chapter is an article in its own right and can (should) be read separately. The book is also very reasonably priced.If you are in doubt as to which book to buy as an introduction to Homer, there is no contest: buy the "Cambridge Companion". Of the competitors, Latacz is the only one that even comes close.

The Cambridge Companion to Homer is an excellent introduction to Homeric studies, bringing the best academic writers together in one volume, and providing readers with all the background information about Homer and his age and all the introductory information about the poems themselves and their poetics that they will need. A real triumph. Highly recommended.

For the time being.

This is an extremely useful and comprehensive set of articles. There's something for everyone -- scholarship at its most user-friendly. Highly recommended!

Great help with Homer studies:)

okay

I had high expectations for this book - Cambridge University and all - but it was disappointing. While there are a few informative essays, most are just pretentious academic nonsense. There were several essays where I stopped reading three or four pages in. Even the bibliography - or "Works cited" is worthless.