Homer: Odyssey Book IX

Book IX of the Odyssey is one of the most often read and discussed sections of Homeric poetry. It contains Odysseus' narrative of his encounter with Polyphemus the Cyclops, which not only typifies him as the trickster-hero that he is, but also resonates thematically with later parts of the narrative. This edition provides solid support in reading, understanding, and enjoying this essential episode. The Commentary is designed to be helpful to undergraduates, postgraduates, and scholars, providing assistance in understanding Homeric language from elementary to advanced levels. The constant attention to narratological details contributes to the literary appreciation of the episode. The Introduction offers a particularly full guide to Homeric meter, language and dialect as well as discussing in detail the place which the Cyclops episode occupies both in the Odyssey as a whole and in Greek mythology and culture as an expression of the colonial imagination.

• The Introduction and Commentary give students a clear guide to Homeric language and meter, giving them an increased appreciation of Homer as poetry
• Discusses the mythological and anthropological connections of the story so that readers can understand it as a complex statement of Greek identity in a changing world in which Greek and foreign cultures come face to face
• The Commentary pays close attention to narratological details to enhance readers' appreciation of the episode and how it fits within the Odyssey as whole