(1) Nicolson says "Homer is a foundation myth, not of man nor of the natural world, but of the way of thinking by which the Greeks defined themselves, the frame of mind which made them who they were, one which, in many ways, we have inherited" (pages 2-3).
(2) Nicolson says of himself, "I began to see Homer as a guide to life, even as a kind of scripture" (page 8). In the DIVINE COMEDY, the poet Dante imagines himself as the character named "Dante" who is accompanied in his journey in the underworld by a character named "Virgil" (through the Inferno and Purgatory; "Beatrice" takes over as "Dante's" guide to Paradise). So just as the poet Dante has imagined the poet Virgil as a guide to accompany "Dante" in the underworld, so too the author Adam Nicolson has discovered the poet Homer as a guide to accompany him in thinking about both the ancient and the modern world.
Finally, I'd like to mention the biblical scholar Marcus Borg's book MEETING JESUS AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME: THE HISTORICAL JESUS AND THE HEART OF CONTEMPORARY FAITH (1995). As I read Nicolson's new book about the Homeric epics, I did indeed feel as though I was meeting Homer again for the first time.
(Article changed on January 9, 2015 at 07:44)
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
