1988/11/01 by M. L. West · 168 citations
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Classical Antiquity Studies #Linguistics and language evolution #Classical Philosophy and Thought #EPIC #TRACE (psycholinguistics) #Subject (documents) #Context (archaeology) #Poetry #History #Literature #Philosophy #Epistemology #Art #Linguistics #Computer science #Archaeology
paper · doi:10.2307/632637
published in The Journal of Hellenic Studies 108, 151-172 (Cambridge University Press)
openalex publication_date 1988/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
My title is familiar as that of a book, and my subject may be thought to call for one. I hope in due course to explore the genesis of the Homeric poems in that format, and what I have to say here may take its place there in a maturer form (wiser, fatter). For the moment I offer merely a provisional attempt to trace out the stages by which the epic tradition developed, stopping short of any discussion of the Iliad and Odyssey themselves. Any such attempt necessarily involves a certain amount of rehearsal of familiar arguments, and, if it is to be plausible, a fair measure of concurrence in familiar conclusions. But conclusions that are familiar are sometimes also controversial, and can be strengthened against their assailants by a fresh discussion; and I have certain doctrines of my own that are best presented in the context of a broad synthesis.