Description
Book SynopsisAccessibly written and timely, The Return of Ulysses establishes the Odyssey as the founding text of Western Civilization and offers a major contribution to the study of Homer's epic poem, as well as modern insight into its cultural reception and continuing imprint on society.
Trade ReviewBritish scholar Edith Hall takes 15 aspects of the Odyssey and traces their permutations from ancient times to today. The result is engrossing and enlightening. Author Magazine 2008 Hall is the optimistic traveller par excellence and leads us on a stimulating journey, roving far and wide through both time and space in pursuit of her hero. Times Higher Education Supplement 2008 [Hall] fills her pages with sharp and often surprising observations about the 'Odyssey' and its spiritual children. She devotes much attention to film ('The Searchers,' 'The Natural,' 'Cold Mountain' and many others), but even reflected in this modern medium, she realizes, the 'Odyssey' owes a measure of its allure to its sheer, echoing antiquity. Reading her good-humored and accessible book is like conversing across the ages. New York Times Book Review 2008 Hall's study of the Odyssey is thorough, entertaining and well referenced. She offers many ways for the reader to relate Homer's epic to more modern works of literature, art and film, thus bridging the gap between old and new. Suite101.com The book sparkles with the excitement... Times Literary Supplement 2008 The Return of Ulysses is a sweeping tour of almost all one could wish to demonstrate about the spell of Homer. -- Zbigniew Janowski First Things 2008 A true cultural treat awaits readers with ears and eyes attuned to both the higher and lower reaches of culture and in want of expert crosscultural, socioliterary criticism. Nostalgia may not generally be what it used to be, but Professor Hall has made a herculean stab at convincing us that there can be exceptions. Anglo-Hellenic Review 2009 Edith Hall takes us on a tour of global culture high and low, mostly from the last hundred years, to demonstrate how Homer's great poem continues to permeate our sensibility and imagination. She is an informative and enthusiastic guide. London Review of Books 2009 Though conversant with Homeric scholarship and the imperatives of postmodern literary criticism, Hall never burdens her prose with theoretic jargon... A goldmine of fascinating information on the persistence of thematic archetypes first formulated in Homer's great epic. Highly recommended. Choice 2009 An extraordinary wide-ranging, clearly written, instructive, and engaging survey of the cultural reception of the poem from antiquity to the early twenty-first century. -- Seth L. Schein New England Classical Journal 2009 The scope of the book is breathtaking and Hall, Odysseus-like, deftly navigates across the rich landscape she unfolds before us, guiding us through its landmarks with a style that is clear, engaging, and at times outright funny. -- Silvia Montiglio Classical World 2010 A monumental overlook at the Homerian classic from all angles and a work which should keep the brain busy through just about any outer circumstance. -- Marilis Hornridge Lincoln Country News [Damariscotta, Maine] 2010
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Part I: Generic Mutations
1. Embarkation
2. Turning Phrases
3. Shape-Shifting
4. Telling Takes
5. Singing Songs
Part II: World and Society
6. Facing Frontiers
7. Colonial Conflict
8. Rites of Man
9. Women's Work
10. Class Consciousness
Part III: Mind and Psyche
11. Brain Power
12. Exile from Ithaca
13. Blood Bath
14. Sex and Sexuality
15. Dialogue with Death
Notes
Bibliography
Index
