Viva Modern Critical Interpretations The Iliad

The Iliad, a foundational text in Western literature, focuses on Achilles, a hero consumed with pride who by the end of the poem is overwhelmed with grief over his lost friend. While eventually Achilles takes pity on the father of his most hated enemy, The Iliad remains tragic as so very many have been brutally killed in the Trojan War. Among the topics considered in this updated edition are the role of Achilles and Helen, The Greeks’ rules of behavior, the oral and literary conventions employed by the author, and man’s internal and external motivations. [B]ehind the murderous conflict of the two opposing forces, the poet of The Iliad appears to want to find a common view of man that might support an albeit belated reconciliation. — D. N. Maronitis [T]he poem does not transcend the human condition but presents us with, perhaps even reminds us of, our condition as dwellers in the world... The epic moves us to a comprehension of a political and ethical relationship to others... The story Homer tells us, like the story Achilles tells Priam, is one in which we are moved toward a recognition of a shared world... — Dean Hammer VIVA MODERN CRITICAL INTERPRETATIONS presents the best current criticism on the most widely read and studied poems, novels and dramas of the Western world, from Oedipus Rex and the Iliad to such modern and contemporary works as William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury and Don DeLillo’s White Noise. Each volume opens with an introductory essay and editor’s note by Harold Bloom and includes a bibliography, a chronology of the author’s life and works, and notes on the contributors. Taken together, VIVA MODERN CRITICAL INTERPRETATIONS provides a comprehensive critical guide to the most vital and influential works of the Western literary tradition.