The Making of the Odyssey

Reviews / Votes

This is one of the best scholarly books published this decade because it makes many new discoveries instead of repeating past findings. This book should be locatable in any public or academic library so that those reading "Homer's" texts can consider the true context behind the patchwork of stories they are appreciating. * Anna Faktorovich, Pensylvania Literary Journal * Martin West, who died in 2017 at age 77, was truly one of the great Hellenists of recent generations. His output was enormous and influential. He wrote over thirty books and many dozens of articles. I mention only his editions of Hesiod's Theogony (1966) and Works and Days, his Teubner edition of the Iliad (1998, 2000), and his magisterial The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth (1997). Here in his last book, published in hardback in 2014, he offers a companion to The Making of the Iliad: Disquisition and Analytical Commentary, published in 2011. ... West's book is useful for untangling the oral antecedents of Homer's poems" * Barry B. Powell, Bryn Mawr Classical Review * Review from previous edition This is the late work of a scholar confident in the knowledge that he has read everything his opponents can throw at him, and has a well-researched answer for all of it. * Peter Green, The Times Literary Supplement * This is a marvellous book by a superb scholar at the height of his powers * Peter Jones, Classics for All *