Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

G.P. Rose. "Odyssey 16.143-82: A Narrative Inconsistency?" Transactions of the American Philological Association, 102-509-14.

Disagress with Gunn's (1970) and Hoekstra's (1965:117, n.3) assertions that there is a narrative inconsistency in the scene of Telemachos' departure from Menelaos' palace in the Odyssey (15.144ff.). Sees the apparent "nod" not as evidence of oral composition but as a feature of Homeric characterization: "the interrupted departure puts the final, convincing touch on an amusing tension that has developed between Telemachos' impetuous eagerness to return home and Menelaos' persistent failure to incorporate this in his mind" (510).
Area: AG