The Apologos of Odysseus
Lies, All Lies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4864987 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hugh Parry (0000-0002-9077-5859, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1 |
| Publication date | 1994-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Phoenix (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-8299 • E-ISSN: 1929-4883 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1192503 |
| OpenAlex | W2327409143 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
UNITARIAN ASSUMPTIONS about the Homeric Odyssey have today largely supplanted the view, firmly held in the nineteenth century and entertained with decreasing conviction until the middle of the twentieth, that our Odyssey is a stitched song patched together by many rhapsodists. We have returned to the more ancient view: one poet, one consistent imagination.1 What that imagination achieves, however, is a more contentious question. Conclusions are influenced by a variety of assumptions: about the nature and functions of oral epic poetry, about the particular historical and social circumstances that surrounded the composition of the Odyssey, about differences in sensibility between Homeric and roughly contemporary epic poetry, and about the meaning communicated by narrative structures in general. Crucial to any persuasive reading of the Odyssey is a coherent account of the Apologos of Odysseus, his recitation to the Phaiakians, four books' long, of the startling things that happened to him after his departure from Troy. To be blunt, is this recitation or is it not a pack of lies? How are we to decide? And what will truth or lies mean for a reading not only of these books but of the Odyssey as a whole and its hero? As to evidence, there is what the Odyssey itself tells us and there is what we may call Homer's
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,26 |
| Citation span | 2007 - 2024 (18) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |