http://www.umwcpr.org/homer Just another WordPress weblog Mon, 27 Nov 2006 03:58:41 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en  *I know we are finishing reading up the English translation (books 23-24) this week, so if you haven't finished it yet, I guess my post is a spoiler and you might want to skip over it!* I finished reading the end of the english translation of the Odyssey prior to the last ... http://www.umwcpr.org/homer/2006/11/26/the-end-of-the-odyssey/ This weekend as I was finishing the Odyssey I noticed another parrallel between Odysseus and Penelope. When Penelope is told that Odysseus has returned, she is described as 'her heart pondering much, whether [to do this] or [to do that], much as Odysseus is continually considering two options in his ... http://www.umwcpr.org/homer/2006/11/25/33/ So I've been doing more research, and I found something that kinda builds upon my last post (about Odysseus giving up his immortality, the heroic paradox, etc.)  In Nancy Sultan's Exile and the Poetics of Loss in Greek Tradition, the wife of a hero is extremely important, as her mourning ... http://www.umwcpr.org/homer/2006/11/21/odysseus-the-hero-continued/ In reading book 18 about the confrontation between Iros and (disguised) Odysseus, I found that this passage was ironically amusing: 'May Zeus, stranger, and all the other immortals give you what you want most of all and what is dear to your spirit, for having stopped the wandering of this greedy ... http://www.umwcpr.org/homer/2006/11/01/31/ Line 331, when Odysseus finishes his long speach about the land of the dead, he askes to go to sleep and to join his "companions". I tought that, at this point, he had already lost all of them... Am I missing anything? http://www.umwcpr.org/homer/2006/10/27/my-companions/ For my senior seminar paper, I'm writing about the influences of classical Greek literature in Southern Renaissance literature.  Basically, it is stemming from a novel we read about the Civil War which is loosely structured after the Iliad.  Consequently, I've been reading a lot about Greek epics and heroes.  One ... http://www.umwcpr.org/homer/2006/10/22/odysseus-the-hero/ Since BBCnews is my homepage, I saw that they did a follow up article in reference to the question of Paliki being ancient Ithica, only connected to another island by fill from volcanoes.  In case any of you are interested, here is the link: Drill Hole Begins Homeric Quest. http://www.umwcpr.org/homer/2006/10/11/update-on-search-for-ithica/ First, I have to say this blog is very handy when you're out of town! In the translation, I had difficulty with lines 193-4.  I understand it's something about leaves on the ground (appropriate for this season!), but I just can't seem to put all of the words together. To echo Midori's ... http://www.umwcpr.org/homer/2006/10/09/a-conglomeration-of-things/ Book 13, lines 287-290: 'The goddess, gray-eyed Athene, smiled on him, and stroked him with her hand, and took on the shape of a woman both beautiful and tall, and well versed in glorious handiworks...' I liked this quote, since it shows that Athena truly cares for Odysseus (it is not ... http://www.umwcpr.org/homer/2006/10/08/weekend-readings-quote/ Earlier, I think, Pietro wrote about the repetition and formulaic phrases in Homer and whether those indicate oral tradition as the source for the texts. I ran into some theories about Homer and oral vs. written while writing another paper (which involved medieval literacy / oral culture) because I was told to look at the ... http://www.umwcpr.org/homer/2006/10/04/oral-tradition-again/