Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Gerald K. Gresseth. Homer on Life and Death. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Sees the Homeric poems as the "end of a tradition of oral poetry" (p. xiii), but maintains that even if this much is true it does not tell us enough about their composition. Follows Finnegan (espec. 1977) in denying the need for an oral poetics because the line between oral and written is unclear. Understands Homeric art as the individual use of traditional diction (on this point, see espec. Chapter 2, "Characterization," pp. 50-80).
Area: AG