As stated earlier, Burgess' writings were very scientific in nature, and naturally they read in a very scientific way. The book is presented as a study of the makings of Homers poetry and how his poetry (especially Iliad and Odyssey) became known as the Epic Cycle genre. He states, "Indeed, eventually the whole genre of epic poetry became equated with Homer." (pg 130)

The only problem that a reader might have with Burgess' work is that, even though it has a solid thesis, and a lot of supporting evidence, there seems to be little, if any, real purpose to the book. In actuality, Jonathan could have probably started his book with a statement from page 33 that states, "Trojan War material found in the Epic Cycle has very old roots and continued to be used by poets and artists throughout antiquity" and would have made his point just as well as he did by including an additional 140 pages. The only interesting aspect of the...

If he had put a little more effort into actually creating a work that people would enjoy reading, the reader would have likely learned a great deal more that what was learned.
Perhaps in his next attempt Jonathan S. Burgess will be able to compile a complete book that appeals more to the intellectual masses, than the few elite who may never care about whether Home influenced the Epic Cycle or not.

Works Cited

Jonathan S. Burgess, Tradition of the Trojan War in Homer and Epic Cycles, (Maryland, the John Hopkins University Press) 2001