BEING curious to know why some modern variations on the
Ulysses theme--Dante's, Tennyson's, and Joyce's, for example
--differed so much from the classical prototypes, I looked for some
comprehensive study of the tradition and found none. The Greek
and Roman periods had been summarily surveyed in two German
encyclopaedias and in a series of articles by an Italian scholar. There
were many scattered essays and monographs on special phases of the
classical and vernacular traditions. But no one, apparently, had tried
to trace the development of the theme continuously from ancient
to modern times. So it seemed worth while as a sequel to editing
Homer Odyssey to undertake this study of Ulysses's strangely
varied wanderings in European literature.

Some explanations are due. Readers primarily interested in the
classical period must be warned that my interpretation of Homer's
Ulysses is based on a belief in the artistic unity of the Iliad and
Odyssey as we now have them. This hypothesis, of course, begs a
big question. But, whatever may be said against it on scholastic
grounds, it at least has the support of almost every creative writer
who has written on the Ulysses theme; and I found nothing in my
further studies of Homer's characterization to make me disbelieve
it: on the contrary the portraiture of Ulysses in each poem seemed
more and more to reveal a unity of conception. It remains open for
someone else to write another book based on the assumption of
several Homers and more than one 'Homeric' Ulysses.

To readers more interested in the modern tradition I owe an
apology for the comparative brevity of the later chapters. I origin-
ally planned a second volume for the post-classical period, but
eventually ('let the cobbler get back to his last') decided against it.
So, instead of trying to cover the modern ground as fully as the
classical, I have offered an outline of what seemed to be the most
characteristic developments in the Western traditions. Some details
have been published in earlier articles, as cited later. If through
ignorance or misjudgement I have omitted any major modern
variations on the classical themes, I can only apologize, warning
the reader that my knowledge of the post-classical period is mostly
that of an inquisitive amateur.

I am grateful to many friends for help in collecting material and

-v-