The study of Homeric imitations in Vergil has one of the longest
traditions in Western culture, starting from the very moment the Aeneid
was circulated. Homeric Effects in Vergil's Narrative is the first
English translation of one of the most important and influential modern
studies in this tradition. In this revised and expanded edition,
Alessandro Barchiesi advances innovative approaches even as he
recuperates significant earlier interpretations, from Servius to G. N.
Knauer.Approaching Homeric allusions in the Aeneid as "narrative
effects" rather than glimpses of the creative mind of the author at
work, Homeric Effects in Vergil's Narrative demonstrates how these
allusions generate hesitations and questions, as well as insights and
guidance, and how they participate in the creation of narrative meaning.
The book also examines how layers of competing interpretations in Homer
are relevant to the Aeneid, revealing again the richness of the Homeric
tradition as a component of
meaning in the Aeneid. Finally, Homeric Effects in Vergil's Narrative
goes beyond previous studies of the Aeneid by distinguishing between two
forms of Homeric intertextuality: reusing a text as an individual model
or as a generic matrix.For this edition, a new chapter has been added,
and in a new afterword the author puts the book in the context of
changes in the study of Latin literature and intertextuality.A masterful
work of classical scholarship, Homeric Effects in Vergil's Narrative
also has valuable insights for the wider study of imitation, allusion,
intertextuality, epic, and literary theory.
