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From our English readings of Book I to X and our Greek translations of portions of Book X and XI, I think it is safe to say that Odysseus is the epitome of what human rationality should aspire to, at least by ancient Greek/Homeric standards. While his men cower in ignorance, he tends to them […]
A very talented Instructional Technology Specialist has been hard at work trying to figure out a way to use Greek characters (including accents and breathing marks) in a blog post. He’s figured out a way to use a WYSWYG (”What you see is what you get”) apparatus which allows you to click on the letters […]
When I was translating the first book of the Iliad last semester, my professor often pointed out the flow of the narrative. In a way, it flowed backwards. The poet told you something, and then told you the reason behind it. For example, in the very beginning, Achilles is angry, he is angry because there […]
Derek Walcott spent most of his life reading and rewriting Homer. He grew up next to the sea and, like Odysseus, has a strong feeling towards is country-island. I met him in Italy this summer and I definitely fall in love with his poetry. Here is an example, the beginning of his “Odyssey”.
Derek Walcott, Act One, […]
Our discussion of Odysseus and Nausicaa reminded me of this poem by Derek Walcott. It’s about the only thing of his I’ve read, but I am told he often deals with classical themes from his perspective, growing up and living in the (colonized-by-Europeans) Caribbean.
I thought the use of Nausicaa to represent the lure of Odysseus’s […]
So far, having translated not even hundred lines, we have already met so many repetitions: some verses show up exactly in the same way they appeared just a while before (for example everytime Circes calls Odysseus “seed of Zeus, son of Laertes” etc.). I’m wondering if this has something to do with the oral tradition […]
The Odyssey is such the quintessential adventure tale that the term ‘odyssey’ in English is used for any long and wandering journey, not just that of Odysseus. Yet his story differs in many ways from other heroes’ tales; one difference that strikes me is that Odysseus makes his return empty-handed: no Gorgon’s head, no Golden […]
It is interesting to compare Odysseus’ mourning in different sections of the book. In chapter 10, which we translated, Odysseus weeps upon hearing that he must go down to the underworld, then once he is satisfied, asks how he should undertake this adventure and prepares to go. However, when on the island of […]
When we were reading the Iliad for our previous Greek class the last semester, I had been initially surprised that Iris was often than not sent to provide messages to mortals and to other gods; I had thought that Hermes would have played a larger role in the carrying of messages.
Now that we are reading the Odyssey, […]
The way Odisseus reacts to the sudden news of his journey to Hades is, in my opinion, typical of the Greek tragedy: an emphatic, uncontrolled, even exaggerated use of the body and then, when it’s time to speak, an absolut control of the words: because the fate has been already set for them, the reaction of […]
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