Homeric Moments

"We might all wish that philosopher and classicist Brann had taught us Homer. Falling short of that, we can read Homeric Moments . . . Written with wit and clarity, this book will be of value both to those reading the Odyssey and the Iliad for the first time and to those teaching it to beginners."
--Library Journal

Fifty years of reading Homer--both alone and with students--prepared Eva Brann to bring the Odyssey and the Iliad back to life for today's readers. In Homeric Moments, she brilliantly conveys the unique delights of Homer's epics as she focuses on the crucial scenes, or moments, that mark the high points of the narratives: Penelope and Odysseus, faithful wife and returning husband, sit face to face at their own hearth for the first time in twenty years; young Telemachus, with his father Odysseus at his side, boldly confronts the angry suitors; Achilles gives way to boundless grief at the death of his friend Patroclus.

Eva Brann demonstrates a way of reading Homer's poems that yields up their hidden treasures. With an alert eye for Homer's extraordinary visual effects and a keen ear for the musicality of his language, she helps the reader see the flickering campfires of the Greeks and hear the roar of the surf and the singing of nymphs. In Homeric Moments, Brann takes readers beneath the captivating surface of the poems to explore the inner connections and layers of meaning that have made the epics "the marvel of the ages."

"Homeric Moments is a feast for the mind and the imagination, laid out in clear and delicious prose. With Brann, old friends of Homer and new acquaintances alike will rejoice in the beauty, and above all the humanity, of the epics."
--Jacob Howland, University of Tulsa, author of The Paradox of Political Philosophy

"In Homeric Moments, Eva Brann lovingly leads us, as she has surely led countless students, through the gallery of delights that is Homer's poetry. Brann's enthusiasm is as infectious as her deep familiarity with the works is illuminating."
--Rachel Hadas, Rutgers University, author of Halfway Down the Hall

Eva Brann (1929 - 2024) was a member of the senior faculty at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, where she taught for more than sixty years. She held degrees from Brooklyn College and Yale University and was a recipient of the National Humanities Medal. She is the author of Doublethink / Doubletalk, Then & Now, Un-Willing, The Logos of Heraclitus, The Music of the Republic, and many more.