TA's Question on Hume

On page 106, Hume says that great poets like Homer were praised in the time they were writing and are still highly praised today. Perhaps even more highly regarded because of their longevity. There are countless works of art that we understand to be great coming from their time and because they have stood the test of time.

My question is, what if Homer's Iliad and Odyssey had been written not thousands of years ago, but in this day and age? Disregarding that literature would be very different because of it, and assuming they were written as exactly the same pieces, how would we react? How would we react according to Hume's logic?


I think one would first have to establish more ground rules for this thought.  I think that a few of the biggest reasons that the Iliad and Odyssey are so revered are the fact that they taught lessons, and captivated the cultural essence of their times.  They were also very original and groundbreaking works.  I think the literary mastery was icing on the cake, so, to answer the question, they may not be as renowned today if they were published tomorrow.  


With that being said, more appropriately, it would be a question one could not answer.  Simply because of the fact that they catered to the culture of their specific time, and were highly original.  If we were to contemplate their entry into the world of art today, wouldn't they be skimming of the works of a few other bodies of literature, at the very least?  Would it be slightly odd to right about the beliefs and stories that no one really holds today?  And if not, how would we take it at face value? As a cultural fingerprint or merely entertainment?  I think it would be difficult to recreate a scenario like that in our minds, but if we were, and under the assumption that they were the precedent to any other works that were to be built off of them, I would say, that Hume would think the true value of the art would show, and over time, at least, the world would accept the art for what it was, and is.