Ten essays, presented by Myrsiades (West Chester U., UK), explore novel ways of approaching the Homeric epics: the Illiad and the Odyssey. Topics include the universal concerns of the Homeric epics, reading Homer through the oral tradition, the nature of the self in the Homeric epic, the inertia in Achilles in the Illiad as it stands in relations to his attitude towards his own mortality, contemporary understandings of the theme of force in Homer, the thematic roles of minor characters such as Hektor and the Greater Aias, and contemporary rewritings of Homer by Mary Zimmerman and Margaret Atwood. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)