Too, Yun Lee. Review of Tim Whitmarsh's ANCIENT GREEK LITERATURE. BMCR (January 2009).

Whitmarsh, Tim. Ancient Greek Literature. Cambridge: Polity, 2004. I suggest that the book is indeed cutting edge or on the forefront of Greek literature studies and, as such, it is representative of the classics tripos at Cambridge University (where incidentally TW and I both studied and had research fellowships in the 1990s). In his preface TW denies a chronological structure to his work in favour of themes and topics that cluster around literary texts, albeit chapters 1 to 9 proceed rather chronologically around the various genres. This is what I describe as the diachronic approach in the book. Chapters 10 to 13 read Greek literature synchronically, ordering the discussion around very current topics that seek to demonstrate that the literature we are calling 'Greek' was always in contest in a way that we might find very relevant and engaging today. . . . Read the whole review here: http://www.bmcreview.org/2009/01/20090133.html.