Character, Narrator, and Simile in the Iliad

This book presents the first comprehensive examination of Homer's similes in the Iliad as arenas of heroic competition.

Jonathan L. Ready (Author)

9780521190640, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 April 2011

334 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.57 kg

Jonathan L. Ready offers the first comprehensive examination of Homer's similes in the Iliad as arenas of heroic competition. This study concentrates primarily on similes spoken by Homeric characters. The first to offer a sustained exploration of such similes, Ready shows how characters are made to contest through and over simile not only with one another but also with the narrator. Ready investigates the narrator's similes as well. He demonstrates that Homer amplifies the feat of a successful warrior by providing a competitive orientation to sequences of similes used to describe battles. He also offers a new interpretation of Homer's extended similes as a means for the poet to imagine his characters as competitors for his attention. Throughout this study, Ready makes innovative use of approaches from both Homeric studies and narratology that have not yet been applied to the analysis of Homer's similes.

Introduction
1. The simile and the Homeric comparative spectrum
2. Similes and likenesses in the character-text
3. A preparation for reading sequences of similes
4. Sequences of similes in the character-text
5. Narrator, character, and simile
6. Similes in the narrator-text
Conclusion: the Odyssey compared.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]