I got the Fagles edition of the Odyssey from the library. I read a third of the Shewring translation, but now the assignment is to read books 1-8, so I'm going to do that, and listen/watch the lectures.
When you hear about returning home from the Trojan War stories, and I thought it would be cool to pick an obscure character from the Illiad who isn't accounted for and give a return story for him. I guess there are the stories of Mary Renault and that wonderful retelling of the Illiad by Madeline Miller.
Then I thought about telling the story of Odysseus when he was with the Calypso for 10 years. "...the bewitching nymph, the lustrous goddess, held him back..." I wonder what that was like. She kept him in her "arching cavern," and, "forever trying to spellbind his heart with suave, seductive words." Yea, I've known a few women like that. I mean I wish. I guess I could lose 10 years pretty quickly that way.
I was reading Great Books by David Denby and he had a chapter on the Odyssey. He's a really good writer, and writes about the teacher and what it means for the teacher to tell the students that they are Telemachus.
When you hear about returning home from the Trojan War stories, and I thought it would be cool to pick an obscure character from the Illiad who isn't accounted for and give a return story for him. I guess there are the stories of Mary Renault and that wonderful retelling of the Illiad by Madeline Miller.
Then I thought about telling the story of Odysseus when he was with the Calypso for 10 years. "...the bewitching nymph, the lustrous goddess, held him back..." I wonder what that was like. She kept him in her "arching cavern," and, "forever trying to spellbind his heart with suave, seductive words." Yea, I've known a few women like that. I mean I wish. I guess I could lose 10 years pretty quickly that way.
I was reading Great Books by David Denby and he had a chapter on the Odyssey. He's a really good writer, and writes about the teacher and what it means for the teacher to tell the students that they are Telemachus.
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