Zeruneith, Keld 1941–

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Zeruneith, Keld 1941–

PERSONAL:

Born 1941.

CAREER:

Literary critic and historian.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Gyldendal Prize and Holberg medal, both for The Wooden Horse.

WRITINGS:

Med Fem Fingre Pa Hver Hand, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1970.

Med Andre Ord, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1972.

Trediepersoner, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1975.

(With Klaus P. Mortensen) Frigãrelsen Fra Fortiden: Tekster 1870-1890, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1977.

Den Frigjorte: Emil Aarestrup i Digtning Og Samtid; En Biografi, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1981.

Soldigteren: En Biografi Om Johannes Ewald, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1985.

Livsformer: Otte Bidrag Om Biografi, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1988.

Fra Klodens Vãrksted: En Biografi Om Sophus Claussen, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1992.

(Author of foreword) Sophus Claussen, Notater Og Skitser, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1993.

(With Bo Reinholdt and Duncan Macmillan) Odyseen: Peter Brandes Og Homer, Fra Ord Til Billede, Statens Museum for Kunst (Copenhagen, Denmark), 2002.

(With others) Peter Brandes: Homer; Bildausgrabungen Mnemosyne, edited by Friedrich Holderlin, Wasmuth (Tübingen, Germany), 2007.

The Wooden Horse: The Liberation of the Western Mind, from Odysseus to Socrates, translated by Russell L. Dees, Overlook Press (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Keld Zeruneith is a literary critic and historian. Born in 1941, Zeruneith is the recipient of Denmark's highest literary honor, the Gyldendal Prize, as well as the Holberg medal, both for his first publication in English.

Zeruneith published his first book in English translation in 2007. The Wooden Horse: The Liberation of the Western Mind, from Odysseus to Socrates, translated by Russell L. Dees, examines the emergence of a conscious thought in Western civilization from its origins in ancient Greece through poets and philosophers, including Homer, Sophocles, Hesiod, and Socrates. Zeruneith marks the tale of Odysseus as the starting point for this shift in Western civilization as the story's protagonist was required to rely on his own intellect and ability to survive as opposed to using superhuman strength, as was standard in most other tales leading up to that time.

John David Lewis, writing in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review, commented on the book's limitations in scope and wrote that "most telling may be Zeruneith's near omission of Plato's own Laws." Lewis concluded, "In the end, The Wooden Horse stands or falls on its categorical framework and its phenomenological assumptions. In its scope, the examination of Homer, Hesiod, Archilochus, Sappho, several Presocratics, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Socrates is ambitious—but held rigidly to limits that include not enough about Homer's characters prior to Odysseus, little about Plato except in relation to Socrates, and nothing of Aristotle outside of the Poetics. This attempt to fit Greek thinkers into a singular scheme of development relies for its validation on its own categories, which have been used to drive the analysis."

Booklist contributor Jay Freeman described The Wooden Horse as "a wide-ranging and often difficult read" and cautioned that "a rudimentary knowledge of classical literature is necessary to appreciate this work." A contributor to Kirkus Reviews, however, concluded that The Wooden Horse is "a readable, vigorous survey—if a touch overlong—of a piece with modern works of classical scholarship." And writing in Library Journal, Scott Duimstra "recommended" the account, noting that the author "successfully combines historical analysis and philosophical reflection" to prove his thesis.