person
Homer
also: Гомер
The ancient Greek epic poet traditionally credited with the Iliad and Odyssey; invoked here via the stock phrase "Homeric laughter" for mock-epic comic effect.
Reading notes
- A Little Something §10 Homeric laughter
The ancient Greek epic poet, traditionally credited with the \emph{Iliad} and \emph{Odyssey}; "Homeric laughter" (from the gods' uncontrollable mirth in the \emph{Iliad}) is stock literary shorthand for laughter of epic, godlike scale, deployed here with mock grandeur for a boating accident.
- Notebooks. Diaries §1239 Schiller, Homer
Homer, traditional author of the Iliad and Odyssey, invoked here (and again at \S3785) as safely undisturbing classic reading -- Chekhov's satire is aimed at the shallow reader, not at Homer.