Homer's The Iliad

Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations

by Harold Bloom (Editor)

One of the greatest stories ever told, The Iliad has survived for thousands of years because of its insightful portrayal of man and its epic story of war, duty, honor, and revenge.

While The Iliad recounts the war between the Trojans and Achaeans, it also is the tragic story of the fiery-tempered Achilles. Insulted by his king, the proud Achilles decides to stand by as his comrades are annihilated, but circumstances finally spur the warrior to wreak savage retribution upon Troy.

The battle between the Trojans and Achaeans stirs ancient passions and vendettas among the gods of Olympus. While the two armies of mortals confront each other, the gods fly to earth to aid their allies and confound their enemies. Soon, they too enter the fray alongside the men, which leads to an attempt to betray Zeus himself, the supreme king of Olympus.

Woven among the battle scenes are the stories of the men and women caught in the war: the Trojan prince Hector, who is torn between duty and love for his wife and young son; Helen, who is the most beautiful woman in the world, but who comes to regret being born; and Priam, the king of Troy, who is too old to battle, but has the strength for one final act of courage.

Genres: Literary Criticism, Criticism

212 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1988

About the author

Harold Bloom was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world." After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.

Reviews

[Ali Ahmadi]

یکی از صد و چند کتاب مجموعه‌ی Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations. کتاب‌هایی که هر کدام دربرگیرنده‌ی مقالات گردآوری‌شده توسط هارولد بلوم – یکی از مهم‌ترین منتقدین انگلیسی‌زبان در قرن گذشته – درباره‌ی یک اثر شاخص ادبی به همراه پیشگفتاری از او هستند.

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فرهنگ شرم و فرهنگ گناه

بر اساس این پارادایم انسان‌شناسی، فرهنگ‌ها به دو دسته‌ی کلی شرم‌محور و گناه‌محور تقسیم می‌شوند. (البته به‌طور دقیق‌تر این یک طیف است و نه یک دوگانه‌ی مطلق.) شرم حسی سراسر متکی بر دیگری‌ست، یعنی عدم تطابق با نظام ارزشی بیرونی یا احساس درونی ناخوشایند کافی نبودن در نظر دیگران. و در مقابل آن غرور و افتخار قرار می‌گیرد. حس گناه‌ اما از یک نظام ارزشی درونی – مثل دین یا dikē خدای یونانی عدالت – بیرون می‌آید و وابسته به دیگران نیست.

انسان هومری در نگاه اول مانند مهره‌ی شطرنج است، بی‌اراده و تسلیم خواست‌های بی‌شمار و متناقض خدایان، و بدون جنگ – میدانی برای کسب احترام و افتخار (مفاهیم بنیادین timē و kleos در حماسه‌ی هومری) – دلیلی برای زندگی ندارد. بر این اساس، دنیای ایلیاد یکی از شرم‌محورترین جوامعِ به‌تصویر‌کشیده‌شده است؛ بی‌نهایت فردگرا، از این نظر که شرم و افتخار شخصی معیار ارزش‌گذاری بیشترِ کنش‌ها و واکنش‌هاست و رابطه‌ای ارگانیک و ارزش‌مند بین اغلب اعضای آن (به جز اعضای خانواده‌ یا دوستان بسیار نزدیک)، چه در یک جبهه و چه دو سمت مخالف وجود ندارد. به عبارتی دیگر انسان‌ها برای هم تنها وسایلی برای کسب افتخار بیشترند. اما نگاهی دقیق‌تر نشان می‌دهد که ایلیاد تقابل دائم میان دو نظام ارزشی شرم/افتخار محور و گناه/عدالت محور است و هومر با همه‌ی تقدیرگرا بودنش وزنه‌ی عدالت – از نوع ویژه‌ی زمان خودش – را احتمالن سنگین‌تر از افتخار می‌داند.

هومر، در زمان‌هایی که مشغول توصیف ماجراجویی‌های خون‌بار قهرمان‌هایش نیست، اشاره‌های متعددی به عدالت (fairness)، dikē و صلح به عنوان سنت‌هایی ریشه‌دار دارد. شاید یکی از مهم‌ترین نمونه‌ها نیازآوری (التماس کردن یا امان خواستن، supplication) باشد یعنی وقتی که قهرمانی در آخرین لحظه به پای قهرمان دیگری می‌افتد و از او می‌خواهد با صرف‌نظرکردن از کشتنش سَربَها (پول خون) بگیرد. به گواهی هومر در ۹ سال محاصره‌ی تروا بارها این اتفاق افتاده (حتا توسط آشیلِ افتخارجو) و پایان‌بندی داستان نیز در ملاقات آشیل و پریام با صحنه‌ی مشابهی رقم می‌خورد. انگیزه‌‌ی اصلی در اینجا نه سربها و افتخار شخصی بلکه نوعی سنت عدالت محور است – مشابه آنچه در فرهنگ ایرانی از آن به عنوان منش پهلوانی یاد می‌شود – بخشش به جای چرخه‌های متوالی انتقام و خونریزی، چون هر قهرمانی ممکن است خود روزی در جایگاه نیازآور قرار بگیرد.‌ (استقبال سربازان از بازگشت به خانه/nostos یا مشخص شدن تکلیف جنگ با دوئل پاریس و منلاس، توصیف مفصل تصاویر نقش‌بسته بر سپر آشیل از دوران صلح و یا تبادل هدیه بین آژاکس و هکتور با وجود دشمنیِ خونین همه نمونه‌های دیگری از تقابل فکری موجود در شخصیت‌ها هستند.) آشیل همه‌ی افتخارهای موجود را به‌دست آورده اما زمانی سوگواری‌اش واقعن کامل می‌شود که در کنار دشمنش اشک می‌ریزد، با او شراب و غذا می‌خورد و در نزدیکی‌اش می‌خوابد. آنچه که کشتار بی‌وقفه و بی‌حرمتی به جنازه‌ی دشمن نتوانسته به انجام برساند، با یک کنش عادلانه ممکن می‌شود، نشستن در نگاه دیگری و دیدن دنیا از چشم او.

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به جز یک مقاله‌ی‌ تخصصی درباره‌ی وزن شعری (dactylic hexameter، وزن حماسی دنیای باستان)، باقی‌ مقاله‌ها ایلیاد را از منظرهای انسان‌شناسی، روان‌شناسی و اسطوره و اخلاق بررسی کرده‌اند: جایگاه اسرارآمیز هلن به عنوان نیمه‌خدا، بررسی زبان بدن و ارتباطات غیرکلامی در داستان، جایگاه تکرار در سنت شعر شفاهی و اهمیت زره آشیل به عنوان راه ارتباطی خدا و انسان. مقاله‌ها گاهی پرتکرار و خسته‌کننده و حتا بی‌معنی می‌شوند اما در نهایت داستان را از زوایای جدیدی به شما نشان می‌دهند.

[Jonathon McKenney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather disappointing collection of essays

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before reading Homer's Iliad (again, I read it at least once before in the time before I wrote book reviews for everything I read), I thought it would be worthwhile to read some notes on the book by Harold Bloom.  Bloom, of course [1], is a noted literary critic whose writings have sought to preserve the classics and "great books" traditions of reading in recent decades.  As someone who is in general warmly sympathetic to this tradition and who appreciates reading and commenting on great books, I figured this book would be a good one to familiarize me with Bloom's educational writings and encourage me to read the epic poem again in translation.  And as is the case with Bloom's writing, the criticism can be a bit hyperbolic, but the book does a good job at presenting the reader with various critical opinions about Homer's writing and the story and characterization of the Iliad, and those who want such things will appreciate what this book has to say.  Short and full of interesting material, this is an easy book to appreciate and likely will by many readers.

In less than 100 pages, these Bloom's notes don't contain any filler.  The editor begins with a user's guide to help the reader become familiar with how the series works and how the book is to be read.  After this there is an introduction to the work and its cultural importance.  Then there is a brief biography of Homer, which is admittedly speculative since not much is known about him.  After this a considerable amount of space is devoted to a thematic and structural analysis of the Iliad, which gives a sense of what Homer was seeking to accomplish in the poem.  There is a list of characters, most of them familiar to readers of other Greek classics.  Most of the book consists of the thoughts of various critics from the 19th and 20th centuries that has been assembled by the author.  Then there is a look at various versions and English translations of Homer, who is only known for this work, the Odyssey, and perhaps a few other poems that are attributed to him.  The book then concludes with works about Homer and the Iliad suggested for further reading as well as an index of themes and ideas contained in the Iliad.

Ultimately, it is the critical essays that make this book as enjoyable to read as it is.  While this book is clearly no substitute for reading the Iliad, it is very worthwhile in helping the reader understand what others have written about it and thought about it.  As the author subtly points out, there is a range of critical opinion about the work, and a great many people have pointed out the distinctions between this work and other great works of the Western tradition.  A great many people appear to have a desire to live in the heroic and aristocratic age that Homer writes about, while many of us are less than fond of this sort of attitude.  One of the aspects of great books like the Iliad that deserves to be recognized is that how we think of the book helps to reveal who we are, and confronting great literature is a way for us to improve the greatness of our thinking and our behaving, even when we dislike the works that we are encountering.  There is a worth in knowing and understanding what it is that great books say, and also in knowing what others have found in encountering these works as well.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was good and well translated. I like how it was not only about the achainians and Trojans in the war, but also how this war separated the Olmpians and made them pick sides and fight each other (with the exception of Zeus, who was practically Switzerland through out the entire thing). The classic rivalry between Achilles and Hector is really entertaining as the tension rises and things go from bad to worse.

[Naomi Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I really enjoyed this collection of essays. I particularly enjoyed Cedric H. Whitman's "Homeric Character and the Tradition" as well as Bruno Snell's "Homer's View of Man." I would love to read an updated collection of essays that include a more diverse representation of authors, though.

[Kc Yuan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally finished this 'the Iliad' that I always to read. This is translated/interpreted by Martin Hammond published by Penguin Classic.
This book introduces me to the Greek Gods and how the Gods, immortals, interacts with the mortals.
Enjoyed very much. Great read.

[Joe Haack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved reading these samples from the best critical interpretations of the Iliad.

[محمد · Rating 5 out of 5]

مقالات رائعة للغاية.