This course will examine the Homeric poems as oral-formulaic poetry, paying particular issue to issues of composition and performance in a pre-literate and proto-literate society. In doing so, we shall trace the role of the oral tradition in the Greek world to the classical period. This is a central topic in literary history that is relevant to any study of the wider Mediterranean world. It has also been a particularly notorious question within scholarship that for more than 100 years dominated the study of Homer. The ongoing controversy centers on new understandings of the development of writing and textualization in the 7th and 6th centuries, the oral-formulaic character of similes and repeated type-scenes; the role of festivals (particularly the Panathenaea) and other opportunities for performance; the meaning and function of “tradition” in a world of slowly increasing literacy; the many para-literary texts that developed around Homer in antiquity; the so-called “wild” variants in papyri; and how knowledge of the poems was transmitted to the Alexandrians. While focusing on issues of literature and language, the questions raised concern music and performance throughout the Archaic period, and allow us to follow the development of writing and the process of textualization of epic verse.

No Ancient Greek is required, and all students are welcome, though familiarity with the Iliad and/or Odyssey will obviously help. There will be opportunity to integrate vase-painting and other archaeological material for those interested, to explore interdisciplinary scholarship looking at cross-cultural parallels, and to pursue relevant personal interests, including reception. If you have any questions, please reach out to the instructor at toph.marshall@ubc.ca.