Diachronic Dialogues: Authority and Continuity in Homer and the Homeric Tradition

277 Pages·2005·10.476 MB·English

by  Ahuvia Kahane

Diachronic Dialogues
Authority and Continuity in Homer and
the Homeric Tradition
Ahuvia Kahane
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-PublicationD ata
Kahane, Ahuvia.
Diachronic dialogues : authority and continuity in Homer and the Homeric tradition/
Ahuvia Kahane.
p. cm.-(Greek studies)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 0-7391-1133-7 (alk. paper}--ISBN 0-7391-1134-5 (pbk.: alk. paper)
l. Horner-Criticism and interpretation. 2. Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.}-
History-To 500. 3. Epic poetry, Greek-History and criticism. 4. Ethics, Ancient, in
literature. 5. Authority in literature. 6. Horner-Influence. 7. Intertexuality. I. Title.
II. Series.
PA4037.K25 2005
883'.0l-dc22 2005011740
Printed in the United States of America
9""
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO 239.48-1992.
For my father
Reuven Kahane
1931-2003

CONTENTS
Editor's Foreword IX
Preface xi
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction: In Search of a Question 1
1 Homer and the Riddle of the Worm 3
2 Hidden Habits and the Trappings of Identity 29
3 Formal Fantasies 65
4 Homeric Signs 95
5 Intentions and Connections 133
6 The Forgetful Order of Things 163
An Envoi: Diachronic Dialogues 215
Bibliography 217
Index Locorum 245
General Index 251
About the Author 265

GREEK STUDIES: INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES
EDITOR'S FOREWORD
BY GREGORY NAGY, GENERAL EDITOR
Building on the foundations of scholarship within the disciplines of philology,
philosophy, history, and archaeology, this series concerns not just the archaic
and classical periods of Greek traditions but the whole continuum-along with
all the discontinuities-from the second millennium BCE to the present. The
aim is to enhance perspectives by applying various disciplines to problems that
have in the past been treated as the exclusive concern of a single given disci
pline. Besides the crossing-over of the older disciplines, as in the case of histori
cal and literary studies, the series encourages the application of such newer ones
as linguistics, sociology, anthropology, and comparative literature. It also en
courages encounters with current trends in methodology, especially in the realm
of literary theory.
Diachronic Dialogues: Authority and Continuity in Homer and the Homeric
Tradition, by Ahuvia K.ahane, seeks answers to basic questions about identity,
authority, and continuity in the Homeric tradition. The author understands this
tradition as a dialectic. Such a dialectic, he argues, is basic to the very notion of
tradition, and "Homer" is a prime example. The book examines some key as
pects of this "Homer," such as the persona as reflected from our view of Ho
meric diction, that diction itself, and our notions of plot and emplotment in Ho
meric narrative. For each one of these aspects there are any number of
historically contingent "stations," that is, points at which this or that aspect of
Homer is conceptualized as one thing or another (for example, the persona of
Homer as the object of the biographical narratives of the Life of Homer tradi
tions).
Highlighted in this book is a special kind of consistency in characterizing
Homer, and in this sense a distinct "identity" of Homer. It is an identity achieved
by way of speaking across time, that is, diachronically. Such speaking across
time involves conversations where the interlocutors cannot hear each other but
are, at the same time, paradoxically, in a meaningful dialogue. That is what the
author means by the title "diachronic dialogues." And the plural suggests that
there is more than one conversation going on.
The ultimate reference in these dialogues is the name "Homer," with which
the author begins, and ends. The referent is the most famous man of antiquity,
who is at the same time equally unknown to all.

PREFACE
This book has been in the making perhapss omewhat longei-than originally
planned: various academic projects (for example. other books and an ocean
crossing). and non-academicp rojects (for example. children),h ave intervened in
the process of its making. Some of the many thanks due to friends, colleagues,
and institutions for support-intellectual and material-for advice, helpful
criticism, and various combinations thereof, are thus debts of longer standing,
although neither they, nor recent debts, are forgotten. Versions of chapters of
this book were presented in Washington DC, Atlanta. Amsterdam, St
Petersburg (Russia), Birmingham, Oxford, Evanston, Cambridge, Madison,
Jerusalem, Columbus, Iowa City, Pennsylvania. Pisa, Lille. Cincinnati. and
elsewhere-always benefiting from comments by the audience. I want to
mention GregoryN agy. Pietro Pucci, Andrew Laird, Egbert Balcker,J ohn Foley.
Kurt Raaflaub.D eborah Boedeker. Robert Wallace, Susanna Braund, Rosalind
Thomas, Mark Buchan, Katherine Eldred, Glenn Most, Kate Gilhully, Joseph
Russo, Sean Gurd, Don Fowler (t), Steven Lowenstam, Irene de Jong. Jasper
Griffin, Barry Powell, The Master and Fellows of Balliol College, the Winberg
College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University, and the Center for
Hellenic Studies in Washington DC. There are many other individuals and
groups to whom I am indebted for help during the writing of this book, who
must remain unnamed in this very short acknowledgement.Y et I cannot but
mention other debts I owe, to my family, and especiallyt o my wife and children,
for the love and happiness they give me, and to my father. who died just before
the birth of my youngest son and while this book was nearing completion-for
the gift of life, and love, and many othei-things.