The University of Wisconsin Press

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Classics / Literature & Criticism

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Perfidy and Passion Reintroducing the Iliad Mark Buchan Wisconsin Studies in Classics Patricia A. Rosenmeyer, Laura McClure, and Mark Stansbury-O’Donnell, Series Editors A new interpretation of Homer’s Iliad revealing that the secrets Homer’s characters cling to are as important as what they tell Homer’s Iliad is often considered a poem of blunt truthfulness, his characters’ motivation pleasingly simple. A closer look, however, reveals a complex interplay of characters who engage in an awful lot of lies. Beginning with Achilles, who hatches a secret plot to destroy his own people, Mark Buchan traces motifs of deception and betrayal throughout the poem. Homer’s heroes offer bluster, their passion linked to and explained by their lack of authenticity. Buchan reads Homer’s characters between the lies, showing how the plot is structured individual denial and what cannot be said. Mark Buchan has taught classics at the University of Washington, Princeton University, and Columbia University. He has also published on a wide range of topics within Greek literature and philosophy. His main scholarly focus has been on the Homeric poems. He lives in New York. Praise: “Buchan shows that deception and betrayal play a fundamental role in the classic poems, confirming that what is unsaid, and even the lies told, are as important as what is said.” —Choice “Original, thoughtful, and thought-provoking. Buchan does not get mired in scholarly argument or in proofs of his own originality or authority. Instead he goes right to work, interpreting the Iliad with great perception and imagination.” —Louise Pratt, Emory University Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.) Of Related Interest: The Matter of the Page Essays in Search of Ancient and Medieval Authors Shane Butler “A smart, insightful, and ultimately persuasive book about the nature of the page from antiquity into the Middle Ages. . . .Butler has made a bold attempt to break down the blood-brain barrier between ideas and texts, signifiers and signifieds, and to suggest that the very space on/in which the text plays out informs the text that is played out there.”—Sarah Spence, Renaissance Quarterly

August 2012 LC: 2011047343 PA 192 pp.    6 x 9 Paper $29.95 s ISBN 978-0-299-28634-7 ADD TO CART

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