«Van der Laan's study provides an appealing new perspective on Renaissance epic and shows the enduring value of a comparative approach to the genre.»

Sheldon Brammall, Translation and Literature

«The Odyssey is obviously the most important text, and the allusions can bring the reader up short when Van der Laan highlights them. Van der Laan immerses herself in the ancient and medieval traditions of allegorical and moral commentary that found the Odyssey especially fascinating, as well as the vexed theorizing about genre that came with the recovery of Aristotle's Poetics in the sixteenth century.»

Gordon Braden, Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics