Character, Narrator, and Simile in the Iliad [Paperback]

This book presents the first comprehensive examination of Homer's similes in the Iliad as arenas of heroic competition.Jonathan L. Ready demonstrates that Homer uses similes in the Iliad as arenas of heroic competition. In addition to presenting the first sustained critical exploration of similes spoken by characters, Ready investigates similes the narrator uses to describe battles and provides a new way to account for that most peculiar feature of many Homeric similes, their length.Jonathan L. Ready demonstrates that Homer uses similes in the Iliad as arenas of heroic competition. In addition to presenting the first sustained critical exploration of similes spoken by characters, Ready investigates similes the narrator uses to describe battles and provides a new way to account for that most peculiar feature of many Homeric similes, their length.Jonathan L. Ready offers the first comprehensive examination of Homers similes in the Iliad as arenas of heroic competition. This study concentrates primarily on similes spoken by Homeric characters. The first to offer a sustained exploration of such similes, Ready shows how characters are made to contest through and over simile not only with one another but also with the narrator. Ready investigates the narrators similes as well. He demonstrates that Homer amplifies the feat of a successful warrior by providing a competitive orientation to sequences of similes used to describe battle. He also offers a new interpretation of Homers extended similes as a means for the poet to imagine his characters as competitors for his attention. Throughout this study, Ready makes innovative use of approaches from both Homeric studies and narratology that have not yet been applied to the analysis of Homers similes.Introduction; 1. The simile and the Homeric comparative spectrum; 2. Similes and likenesses in the character-text; 3. A preparation for reading sequences of similes; 4. Sequences of similes in the character-text; 5. Narrator, chl#+