Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Henry T. Wade-Gery. The Poet of the Iliad. The J.H. Gray Lectures for 1949. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

In the section on "Oral Technique and Writing" (pp. 38-41), he argues strenuously that "the Iliad is what it is because of the impact upon an oral technique of a brand-new literacy invented by the Greeks themselves" (p. 39). This concept of a literate Homer is necessary to his view of the carefully wrought nature of the poem and thus informs the entire book. Although he accepts many of Parry's notions about formulaic diction and posits an original oral tradition, he assigns the Iliad as a work of art to an individual genius. See also the section on the alphabet (pp. 9-14).
Area: AG