Oxford Critical Guides – serie

The Oxford Critical Guide to Homer's Odyssey brings together internationally recognized experts to provide commentary style essays for non-specialists on each book of the Homeric epic. The introduction provides a broad overview of the historical and mythographical backgrounds to the Odyssey along with brief discussions of the major thematic and scholarly concerns of the poem. The introduction can stand alone as a guide to reading the Odyssey, while it also prepares readers for the deeper discussions of the individual books. Twenty-four scholars, selected for their expertise and earlier publications, contributed essays aimed at guiding readers through different approaches to the poem. Each essay offers a summary of the plot of an individual book followed by a discussion of interpretive issues and its relationship with the epic as a whole. The essays were written and edited with a view towards providing accessibility to epic and epic scholarship to audiences from all backgrounds. While each chapter follows basic guidelines, their authors also add new insights and analyses to classic Homeric controversies. This collection provides an essential resource to engaging with Homer's epic from beginning to end or on a book-by-book basis for readers who have limited access to the original language and for researchers looking to learn more about scholarly approaches to Homer. New interpretations of the Odyssey offered by established scholars, moreover, make this collection a must-read for current researchers as well.

The Oxford Critical Guide to Tacitus presents eighteen chapters surveying individual works and books by Tacitus. The chapters treat a range of interpretive issues, including Tacitus' language and style; historical issues; literary devices; and narrative patterns. Differing from other introductions to Tacitus that adopt a thematic approach to his oeuvre as a whole, this volume approaches each as a unit, from start to finish, addressing important interpretive issues relevant to specific texts, giving readers a deeper appreciation of their nuances and features. Presupposing no prior knowledge of the works or knowledge of Latin, these features make the volume an essential resource for those studying Tacitus in translation and the original language, for those in classical studies and in other disciplines, and for teachers and students, both those at the undergraduate level and those at the graduate level.

The Oxford Critical Guide to Homer's Iliad investigates each of the Iliad's twenty-four books, proceeding in order from book 1 to book 24 and devoting one chapter to each one. Contributors summarize the plot of a book and then explore its themes and poetics, providing both close readings of individual passages and synthetic reviews of current scholarship. This format allows readers to study the poem in the same manner in which they read it: book by book. Differing from other introductions to the Iliad that comprise chapters on specific topics and themes, the volume offers accessible and actionable discussions of concepts pertinent to each book of the poem. Differing from other introductory volumes that are written by a single author, this volume allows for a polyphony of critical voices and showcases the diversity of approaches to the Iliad. Finally, differing from commentaries keyed to the Greek text, this volume is completely accessible to those who do not read Homeric Greek. These features make the volume an essential resource for those studying the Iliad in translation and in the original Greek, for those in classical studies and in other disciplines, and for teachers and students, both those at the undergraduate level and those at the graduate level.

The Oxford Critical Guide to Homer's Iliad investigates each of the Iliad's twenty-four books, proceeding in order from book 1 to book 24 and devoting one chapter to each one. Contributors summarize the plot of a book and then explore its themes and poetics, providing both close readings of individual passages and synthetic reviews of current scholarship. This format allows readers to study the poem in the same manner in which they read it: book by book. Differing from other introductions to the Iliad that comprise chapters on specific topics and themes, the volume offers accessible and actionable discussions of concepts pertinent to each book of the poem. Differing from other introductory volumes that are written by a single author, this volume allows for a polyphony of critical voices and showcases the diversity of approaches to the Iliad. Finally, differing from commentaries keyed to the Greek text, this volume is completely accessible to those who do not read Homeric Greek. These features make the volume an essential resource for those studying the Iliad in translation and in the original Greek, for those in classical studies and in other disciplines, and for teachers and students, both those at the undergraduate level and those at the graduate level.

The Oxford Critical Guide to Tacitus presents eighteen chapters surveying individual works and books by Tacitus. The chapters treat a range of interpretive issues, including Tacitus' language and style; historical issues; literary devices; and narrative patterns. Differing from other introductions to Tacitus that adopt a thematic approach to his oeuvre as a whole, this volume approaches each as a unit, from start to finish, addressing important interpretive issues relevant to specific texts, giving readers a deeper appreciation of their nuances and features. Presupposing no prior knowledge of the works or knowledge of Latin, these features make the volume an essential resource for those studying Tacitus in translation and the original language, for those in classical studies and in other disciplines, and for teachers and students, both those at the undergraduate level and those at the graduate level.