W. B. Stanford (1910–1984)

This is a survey, with all the strengths and limitations which that entails, of the figure of Odysseus from Homer through the first half of the Twentieth Century. Stanford had the required background: he edited one of the standard editions of the Odyssey, is familiar with the intermediate works, and is a sympathetic reader of Joyce's Ulysses and of Kazantzakis. He focusses on highlights - this is not intended as an exhaustive study - and spends the greatest amount of time, as one might show more expect, on Homer. Worthwhile reading, especially if you have no familiarity with the Mediaeval and Renaissance background, or as a case study in how different periods can alter readings and re-presentations of traditional material. show less

This work contains a brilliant essay by Charles Boer as a Foreword, "The Classicist and the Psychopath."