Jasper Griffin (1937–2019)

11. Homer (Past Masters) by Jasper Griffin
published: 1980
format: 80 page little hardcover
acquired: borrowed from my library
read: Feb 24-25
rating: 3 stars

In his introduction Griffin quotes [[Matthew Arnold]] as saying Homer is great "in the noble and profound application of ideas to life.". Then he writes that he hopes "to explain and justify" this statement. I wish he hadn't. Actually all I wanted was a version of a very short introduction to Homer. But that's not really what this is. By show more taking the high ground in a way, he lets us down a bit. He never comes close to providing the explanation and justification promised, and he also never boils these poems down. But he does allow himself to go his own way, and, when he finally gets somewhere, he has some very interesting things to say.

He takes some time to get there. Shortly after telling the reader we should read the poems before we read his book and he goes on to use up many of his 80 pages with a plot summary of the Iliad. Finally - along about page 30 where he writes, "Perhaps even now, despite the long insistence by churches and philosophers that there is one single set of standards, unambiguously moral and the same for everybody, the common man still retains at heart some Homeric values. " - we start getting somewhere.

The rest of the book has really interesting things to say about the Iliad, which he claims is the greater poem, and the Odyssey. He tells us "And Helen is a legendary figure not for her achievements or her virtue but for her guilt and suffering." That is the expression of suffering is her purpose; and it's same for Achilles and Hektor, making the Iliad quite the tragedy. The main mechanism is heroism, and its restrictions and their consequences provide the plays tragedy. To put it another way, characters suffer and die because of choices forced on them in order to maintain their heroic role.

When he writes about the its largely to contrast it, where characters don't exactly abandon the heroic code, but certainly Odysseus stretches its definition.

So, overall I'm pleased I read this, even if I felt the need to beat it up a little bit.

2016
https://www.librarything.com/topic/209547#5489979 show less

A masterful introduction to the Iliad and the Odyssey. Griffin is interested in the literary themes and ideas that drive these two classics, and what he serves up is a feast of incisive observation and interpretation. Along the way he traces the effect of the Homeric epics on Western civilisation and writing. Also helpful is the way he contrasts the unique distinctives of each epic vis-a-vis the other. A recommended short introduction and companion to the first literary works of Europe.

This is very much an introductory book where each chapter ends with a list of further reading, which meant that it didn't really tell me things I didn't already know, but it was a good refresher and kept me interested all the way through.

Solid enough introduction to the Roman world, tracing its history from its origins as a cluster of villages to the foundation of the Empire and its growth in the first two centuries. I used it as a primer during my course on the Roman Empire, and though rather uninspiring, it does lay out the basic facts which one needs to grasp.