View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Trinity University Trinity University Digital Commons @ Trinity Classical Studies Faculty Research Classical Studies Department 2014 Structure as Interpretation in the Homeric Odyssey Erwin F. Cook Trinity University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/class_faculty Part of the Classics Commons Repository Citation Cook, E.F. (2014). Structure as interpretation in the Homeric odyssey. In D. Cairns & R. Scodel (ed.), Defining Greek Narrative (pp. 75-101). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. This Contribution to Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Classical Studies Department at Digital Commons @ Trinity. It has been accepted for inclusion in Classical Studies Faculty Research by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Trinity. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Structure as Interpretation in the Odyssey ‘Defining Greek Literature’ poses an interesting challenge for Homerists, like myself, committed to the proposition that the epics reflect the compositional practices of oral poetry the world over.1 In terms of formal approaches, many scholars, including contributors to this volume, have found it productive to apply narratology to elucidate Homer, a methodology with greater universalizing assumptions than oral theory. Nevertheless, an aspect of the epics that I believe is distinctive, and in certain respects unique, is the ways in which they manipulate traditional conventions so as to guide reception. Although Scodel rightly cautions against assuming homogenous audiences of epic connoisseurs, the practice does, I think, imply audience members able to recognise the patterns and respond to the manipulation.