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Homer's Daughter (2005)

Homer's Daughter (2005)

Book Info

Author
Genre
Rating
3.77 of 5 Votes: 4
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ISBN
0897330595 (ISBN13: 9780897330596)
Language
English
Publisher
academy chicago publishers

About book Homer's Daughter (2005)

Graves wrote this book in 1955 after reading, and becoming convinced by, Samuel Butler's persuasive viewpoint that a woman was the author of the Odyssey, a woman who lived in 750 B.C. Sicily. According to Butler, Sicily was the actual setting for the Odyssey, which was written nearly 150 years after Homer wrote the Iliad, and it is considered a tale of women for women (as opposed to the Iliad, a "tale of men for men"). Graves breathes life into Princess Nausicaa, Butler's authoress, daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete, in their kingdom on Western Sicily. She voices her tale of a brother gone missing, a father gone after him, and she and the remainder of her household left to defend a kingdom against a wild party of suitors for her hand and the threat of conquest. Her experiences are clearly basis for the later occurrences in the Odyssey, and she tells at the end how she pens her epic and enlists Phemius, bard and part of the brotherhood of the Sons of Homer (wandering minstrels) to memorize and recite the tale on his travels. Nausicaa's daily life is infused with stories and deeply felt religious beliefs, so it is not hard to see how she can compose a tale such as the Odyssey with all of its rich adventure. At times heavy going with numerous classical references, this is nonetheless quite a well written and intriguing historical novel with rich descriptions of rural life in a tiny Mediterranean kingdom, and would make an excellent book discussion.

This time around Graves was not so interested in story itself - although there is a very exciting story to tell - as to theory how all those memories and oral traditions probably became interwoven into what we know today as "Odyssey". The novel is set in ancient kingdom on Sicily where princess Nausicaa has to somehow maneuver group of young rascals who in absence of her father plan to swiftly take over the rule and her hand - remember Penelope and her suitors? - along the way she connects previous stories, legends and myths together with her own. It is curiously dry book, intentionally written as ancient epic (lots of empty talk and declamations, long serious speeches and talks about Gods) that stop the story in tracks and often almost sideline the potentially exciting story with so much academic theorizing. If Graves wanted to present this as some ancient Greek play the way they were usually presented thousands of years ago in theatre, he definitely made his point but I found myself skipping a lot of empty talk and was relieved when I finally finished the darn book. I still love Graves but maybe I should give this another chance when I am in different frame of mind.

Do You like book Homer's Daughter (2005)?

I rated it five stars because this is one of these few novels I have read more than once and probably will read again in the future.Graves is unique as story-teller. In this novel he gives his voice to Nausicaa, a young, smart princess of Sicily who dreams about writing an epic poem while facing a conspiracy againts her royal family. Graves wrote this delicious homeric novel inspired in Butler's theory about the Odissey. According Butler, the author of this epic was a woman, and he gives some details to support his theory. Graves found it original and inspiring and he wrote Homer's Daugther.
—Montse de Paz

Es una novela de aventura, basada en una hipótesis que probablemente "La Odisea" haya sido escrita por una princesa Siciliana. La princesa Nausicaa que aparece en la epopeya del regreso a Ítaca de Ulises, es en esta obra de ficción, la que escribe la versión original de este épico, como hija de Homero (título que se daba a los que recitaban la poesía Homérica en las cortes de los reyes y construían poemas relacionados a la época helénica), recién nacida e inspirada por la propia Atenea, construye la trama de acuerdo a un incidente que sucedió en su propio hogar.Disfrute mucho la narrativa y me pareció una novela histórica muy bien realizada, acorde a la maestría de Graves con el tema Griego/Romano, la tragedia, la comedia y el estilo homérico, creo realmente que es un hijo de Homero, como lo es Alfonso Reyes, por ejemplo con el poema de Ifigenia Cruel.
—Hugo

Robert Graves, best known for I, Claudius, uses Samuel Butler’s theory that The Odyssey was actually written by a Sicilian woman as the inspiration for the novel Homer’s Daughter. Nausicaa, daughter of an Elyman king, faces a host of unwelcome suitors while the king is away and has to devise a means of getting rid of them. Luckily, she is quick-witted and resourceful in facing her conundrum. She also has a knack for poetry and has a bard in her debt who happens to be a Son of Homer. With these advantages, she is able to ensure that her words, if not her name (at least not as authoress), live on for eternity. After a rocky start explaining the origins of all the regional tribes and Nausicaa’s ancestry in excessive detail, Graves finds his rhythm in this clever and witty story. It’s fun seeing what he comes up with to explain various elements of the Odyssey as envisioned by Nausicaa. The writing captures the style of the original Iliad and Odyssey perfectly, complete with over-the-top declamations, implausible feats, and gross-out violence. This is fan fiction, but it’s the fan fiction of a classical scholar who knows his stuff, even if he is a touch irreverent and unorthodox.
—Sarah (Presto agitato)

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