The second in a series intending to investigate "the forms and functions of the main devices which [Ancient Greek] narratology has defined for us, such as the narrator and his narratees, time, focalization, characterization, description, speech, and plot," this volume edited by De Jong (Greek, U. of Amsterdam, the Netherlands) and Nünlist (classics, Brown U., US) is dedicated to the examination of the diachronic history of Greek narrative forms and functions concerning time over the course of 12 centuries and thus helps answers narratologist Monika Fludernik's 2003 call to explore such questions as how much reader address occurs across centuries, the temporal origins of certain techniques or constellations, and shifting functions of narrative features and techniques across time. The volume's 30 chapters are organized into sections on epic and elegiac poetry, historiography, choral lyric, drama, oratory, philosophy, biography, and the novel. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)