Homer: A Ladybird Expert Book (38)

Ladybird Expert #32

by Daisy Dunn

Part of the ALL-NEW LADYBIRD EXPERT SERIES

'Brought evocatively to life' HISTORY REVEALED

- Was there really a Trojan War?
- What makes a Homeric hero?
- How did Odysseus defeat the Cyclops?

IMMERSE yourself in the epic adventures of the Ancient Greek gods and heroes. Filled with daring feats, battles and terrifying monsters, the poems and the stories told within them raise complex questions about fate, death and forgiveness that are still debated today.

MIGHTY HEROES AND MEDDLING GODS

Written by the winner of the Classical Association Prize 2020, Daisy Dunn's Homer is a fascinating introduction to these ancient stories and their truly timeless themes.

Genres: History

56 pages, Hardcover

Published September 5, 2019

About the author

Daisy Dunn is an author, classicist, and cultural critic. Her first two books, Catullus’ Bedspread: The Life of Rome’s Most Erotic Poet, and The Poems of Catullus: A New Translation, were published by HarperCollins on both sides of the Atlantic in 2016. The same year, Daisy was named in the Guardian as one of the leading female historians. Daisy has three books due out in 2019, the first of which, In The Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny, was published by HarperCollins on 30 May (it will be released by Norton in the US in December). She is represented for books and media by Georgina Capel at Georgina Capel Associates Ltd.

Daisy contributes features, reviews, and comment articles to the Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, History Today, Literary Review, The London Magazine, New Statesman, Newsweek, The Oldie, The Times, Sunday Times, Spectator, Standpoint, TLS, Apollo Magazine, Catholic Herald, and in the US she contributes to The LA Review of Books, New Criterion, and Lit Hub. Representing her former Oxford college St Hilda’s, Daisy played 3 matches of the 2016 University Challenge Christmas Special on BBC 2. Her team, captained by crime writer Val McDermid, won the series. Daisy has contributed to the BBC World Service, recorded two short films for BBC Ideas, and in 2015 her essay ‘An Unlikely Friendship: Oscar Wilde and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’ was longlisted for the international £20,000 Notting Hill Editions Essay Prize.

Daisy is particularly interested in the ancient world and its afterlife from the Renaissance forwards. Her doctorate, which she was awarded at UCL in 2013, spanned eighth-century BC Greece to sixteenth-century Italy. Her expertise lies in the history of the late Roman Republic and early Empire, literature of Greece and Rome, and art of Renaissance Italy.

Daisy read Classics at the University of Oxford, before completing a Master’s in the History of Art at the Courtauld in London, where she was awarded a scholarship for her work on Titian, Venice and Renaissance Europe. In the course of completing her doctorate, Daisy was recipient of the AHRC doctoral award, the Gay Clifford Award for Outstanding Women Scholars, and an Italian Cultural Society scholarship. She has taught Latin at UCL and continues to give talks and lectures in museums, galleries, and at festivals. She was formerly trustee and Executive Officer of the Joint Association of Classical Teachers. She is now Editor of ARGO http://www.hellenicsociety.org.uk/pub..., a journal published through the Hellenic Society, founded in 1879.

Reviews

[Andrew Ives · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this is an intelligent book and Dunn clearly knows her subject inside out, this Ladybird Expert 'retelling' of the Iliad and the Odyssey bites off more than it can chew in so few pages. Consequently, it feels rather fragmented, flitting around from one scene to the next, assuming the readers' intimate familiarity with two very long epic sagas. I've read the Odyssey long ago, read plenty of Greek mythology and history, and seen several of the film versions, yet I was still frequently confused by the inclusion of so many characters and gods. The parts about Homer, who he may have been, where he came from, which real-life places seem to be depicted in the epics and the eras they were written in, was for me the most interesting part. The overly rushed rehashing of the 'highlights' was too much to take in. A few of the illustrations are quite exceptional too. 4/5

[Ash smells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly no negatives about this book. It was short, easy to read, but contained lots of information on the topic at hand. The illustrations were so beautiful they pained me physically. A great read If you enjoy you’re Greek writings.

[Siobhan Markwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clear and simple in good old Ladybird style.

[Justpassingby]

Not a biography (actually, very little is known about Homer, even whether he existed as a specific person), but a very brief introduction to the Iliad and the Odyssey.