This volume is a translation of S.'s Homère et l'Odyssée, but expanded to take into account new material and new approaches since the original publication in 1998; the bibliography has been updated to include works as late as 2009. The book falls naturally into two unequal parts. The first part (Chapters 1 to 3) deals with Homer and the Homeric epics in general, while the second and longer part (Chapters 4 to 11) deals with the Odyssey in particular. This volume provides a useful and comprehensive summary of many topics of interest, and it will serve as valuable background reading, especially for students.
Chapter 1, ‘From “Homer” to the Homeric Poems’, begins with discussion of fundamental background questions, such as ancient ideas about Homer, the Homeric biographies and genealogies, and ancient debates over his place of origin and his dates, as well as an account of the various works that have at times belonged to the Homeric corpus. The chapter continues with a discussion of the traditional ‘Homeric question’ and the various schools of criticism – analysts, unitarians, neo-analysts and oralists. Chapter 2, ‘The Art of Homer: Between Tradition and Innovation’, includes a good discussion of the techniques of formulaic composition, type-scenes and similes. Chapter 3, ‘Homer and History’, begins with a review of the evidence for the historicity of the Trojan War and then summarises the debate about which historical period is represented by the Homeric epics. These general chapters would also be useful for readers of the Iliad.
Chapter 4, ‘The Odyssey: Narrations, Narrators, and Poets’, gives a short but detailed summary of the events of the Odyssey and then deals with the question of the unity of the plot, the treatment of time and space in the story, and some discussion of narrators and poets. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 provide closer examination successively of ‘The Adventures of Telemachus’, ‘Odysseus’ Travels' and ‘Odysseus on Ithaca’. These chapters serve as an overview, preparatory to the more specific discussion in the following chapters.
In these chapters, as generally throughout the volume, S. touches on a great many topics, but deals with few in depth. At the beginning of Chapter 6, for example, she briefly mentions the problem of the veracity of Odysseus' tales at the court of Alcinous, but she quickly answers that the stories should be taken as true, that is within the narrative world of the poem. I am inclined to agree, but the problem is real and disturbing and deserves more than the half paragraph she gives it.
Chapters 8, 9 and 10 are perhaps oddly titled ‘The Human World’, ‘Women in the Odyssey’ and ‘The World of the Gods’ – almost as if there were three genders, mortal, female and divine. Chapter 8 begins with a long section on Odysseus, including comparison with Odysseus in the Iliad and emphasising the complexity of his character, as it combines heroism, cunning, caution, inquisitiveness, endurance and self-control. Even so S. has a tendency to simplify: ‘there is probably no need to draw the sharp distinction suggested by Tzvetan Todorov … between the two Odysseuses of the Odyssey’, that is, the adventurer and the narrator of the adventures. The chapter continues with sections on the companions, Telemachus, Laertes and the Suitors.
Women – left out of ‘The Human World’ – have a chapter of their own. This chapter, added for this translation, is in my opinion the best part of the book. The study of women in the ancient world has been central to classics in recent years, and, as S. notes, there has been much recent work on women in the Odyssey. This chapter covers both goddesses (Circe and Calypso) and mortal women (Nausicaa, Arete, Helen and Clytemnestra), with the longest section reserved for Penelope. (Athena, however, is reserved for Chapter 10.) The discussion of Penelope is in general excellent. The analysis is subtle and based on careful citation of passages. In her account of Penelope's decision to set the test of the bow, S. rehearses at length the scholarly debate about whether or not Penelope knew that the beggar was Odysseus, and then spells out her own position. She cautions – correctly, in my view – against interpretations based on what is not said, but then admits – again correctly – that the text does not in fact resolve all the ambiguities; she speaks, for example, of ‘the mystery surrounding Penelope's motivation even for herself’ (p. 294). In this section S. seems fully engaged with the text, with the problems it raises and with the scholarly debates; her engagement leads beyond the summary treatment which dominates much of the rest of this study.
S.'s discussion of the gods (Chapter 10) is thematic, but with a natural concentration on Athena and Zeus. The themes include the relationships among the gods, the relationship of gods and mortals and the motivations for divine intervention. S. notes differences between the representation of gods in the Iliad and in the Odyssey: a smaller number of gods play an active role in the Odyssey; there is less conflict among the gods in the Odyssey; the will of Zeus is more central to the plot of the Iliad; and the sense of divine justice is stronger in the Odyssey; but S. warns against exaggerating these differences: the theology of the two poems is essentially the same.
Chapter 11, ‘The Ideology of the Odyssey’, begins with a discussion of the House, not so much as a physical dwelling, but rather as the centre of Odysseus' desire and as the foundation of the society represented in the poem. Topics treated under this broad heading include the relation of masters and servants, the family and the honour of the house. The House, however, does not exist in isolation. S. calls the larger social structure the City, but she carefully refrains from equating the Homeric City with the historical polis, though at times she uses the word without qualification. Thus, Homeric society has two classes, and the story is told from the point of view of the elite, but ideally the polis overcomes the divide between the classes. The breakdown of social order, according to S., is represented by Argos; here one might have expected some discussion of the conflict in Book 24 between the House of Odysseus and the people of Ithaca. The chapter ends with a section on Odysseus as a stranger. In general I found this chapter somewhat disappointing, partly because S. never clearly says what she means by ideology, and partly because she does not really explain how the poem functions ideologically.
One of the persistent themes of the book is the relation between the Iliad and the Odyssey; this is the topic of the conclusion, which usefully draws together various aspects of this theme.
S. covers a great deal of ground in this volume. The broad scope, however, comes at the price of a certain lack of depth. Scholars will find little new or surprising, but students especially will benefit from the clear and informative writing and the judicious summaries of scholarly discussion of Homer and the Odyssey.
