This volume aims at offering a critical reassessment of the progress made in Homeric research
in recent years focussing on its two main trends Neonalysis and Oral Theory. Interpreting
Homer in the 21st century asks for a holistic approach that allows us to reconsider some of our
methodological tools and preconceptions concerning what we call Homeric poetry. The
neoanalytical and oral 'booms' which have to a large extent influenced the way we see Homer
today may be re-evaluated if we are willing to endorse a more flexible approach to certain
scholarly taboos pertaining to these two schools of interpretation. Song-traditions formula
performance multiformity on the one hand and Motivforschung Epic Cycle on the other may not
be so incompatible as we often tend to think.
