Orality, Textuality, and the Homeric Epics

Through readings of Homeric passages, examination of variant readings of "wild" papyri, and, above all, wide-ranging comparative evidence, Ready expands our understanding of "text" and retrieves versions of textuality that take place within oral performance. * Yukai Li, Phoenix *
This landmark study will interest not only Homeric scholars, but scholars of oral performance, epic poetry, transmission of traditional texts, the relation of the oral and written, and related themes, and serves as a touchstone for further research on these epic questions. * Mark Bender, Journal of Folklore Research Reviews *
This dense and technical book far transcends its highly specialised subject area of Homeric oral epic poetry. Its wide comparative reading works both ways: Homerists are introduced to folklore studies, while folklorists have much here to consider about the interaction of collector/transcriber/editor/performer in all oral forms and the mediated relationship between the written and the oral. * The Katharine Briggs Award Judges, The Katharine Briggs Award, The Folklore Society *
Ready neatly maneuvers past older discussions of the Homeric Question by advancing fresh arguments from a performance perspective. The combination of comparativist chops and heterodox dismantling of previoushypotheses will turn heads. This book breaks new ground and will change the course of Homeric studies. * Professor Jonathan Burgess, University of Toronto *
Already an established authority on Homer, orality, and the epic literary world, Jonathan Ready adds yet further lustre to his international reputation in this fine new book. Not only is it notable for its unusually imaginative and knowledgeable transdisciplinaryreach, it leads us, magnificently, into new ways of looking at old texts, their emotion, as well as their imagery and origins. * Professor Ruth Finnegan, The Open University *
An admirable achievement of JLR in this book is his demonstration, by way of a wide-ranging cross-cultural collection of examples, that the logistics of dictation actually have a skewing effect on the 'orality' of a performer... I note my appreciation of the references made to comparative studies of oral traditions in general, which the author applies most deftly to the Homeric text...A related strongpoint, to be found in the last part of the book, is the author's survey of comparative evidence relevant to theories about the scribe as performer,...I conclude by affirming that JLR has succeeded in showing that Homeric performance, to repeat what I have already quoted from the author's own wording, is capable of outliving the moment. * Gregory Nagy, Gnomon 5/95 *
Orality, Textuality, and the Homeric Epics: An Interdisciplinary Study of Oral Texts, Dictated Texts, and Wild Texts is a masterful work by an outstanding scholar. This book is a rich resource that I recommend to anyone interested in orality, writing,... It offers the best discussion of "scribal performance" available. * Frog, University of Helsinki, Journal of American Folklore 136 *
Ready's book can be viewed as a textbook example of how crucial it is to employ a comparative and cross-disciplinary approach, one that collapses the distinction of past and present and that freely crosses geographic, ethnic, or linguistic boundaries, when seeking answers to foundational questions regarding the relation of literature to the realm of oral art forms... Departing from assumptions that others have adopted in the past, Ready rightly emphasizes how distinct the two realms of orality and literacy/textuality are, whether considered from a sociological or from a philological perspective. In particular, he demolishes the assumption that the act of collection involves only a modest impact on the character of a text ... Ready is to be commended, then, for highlighting what he calls 'the messy realities' of textualization. * John D. Niles, Western Folklore *