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MARKS, J., Zeus in the Odyssey. Center for Hellenic Studies (Harvard University Press), Cambridge (Mass.) / London, 2008. 175p. Paperback. Series: Hellenic Studies, 31.'This book makes the case that the plot of the Odyssey is represented within the narrative as a plan of Zeus, Dios boulê, that serves as a guide for the performing poet and as a hermeneutic for the audience. Through occasional participation in events and pervasive influence, the character of Zeus maintains thematic unity as the narrative moves through a mass of potential narrative paths for Odysseus that was already dense and conflicting at the time the Odyssey was taking shape. The 'Zeus-centric' reading proposed here offers fresh perspectives on the tenor of interactions among the Odyssey’s characters, on the relationships among traditional accounts of Odysseus’ return, and on long-standing problems of interpretation. (Publisher's information). This book is the result of an attempt to read the Odyssey simultaneously as a literary artifact and a political instrument. Its author, Jim Marks, tries to show that Zeus, in the hands of the singer, is the character responsible for giving narrative unity to the poem and establishing a Panhellenic version of the story to the detriment of 'epichoric' (local) traditions. (...) it must be said that, on the one hand, Marks's work offers many penetrating readings of the Odyssey and contributes to call our attention to the structural unity of the poem; but, on the other, that his approach seems to be less telling when overwhelmed by a theory that is problematic and lacks enough evidence to support it.' (ANDRÉ MALTA in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2009.05.36). € 17.50 (New) ISBN: 9780674028128