I have yet to read Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey, but I fully intend to soon. In the meantime I have been keeping up with her Twitter account @EmilyRCWilson, where she selects passages from the poem and compares various translations and explains why she chose the words/phrases she did for these selections. It’s a […]
Tag: Homer
I originally included Yasuko Taoka’s paper “A Liar’s Yarn: Storytelling in The Lost Books of the Odyssey” as an update to my post on the book. Now that I have a copy of the first edition from Starcherone Books I realize both the paper and the first edition of the book deserve their own post. […]
I have joked about 2012 being “The Year of the Doorstop” because of the size of the books I’ve read and plan to read before the end of the year. 2013 will probably prove to be a sequel: “Year of the Doorstop, Part 2,” if my plans hold. One of my intended reads is the […]
First up in 2012 at Reading Odyssey is Homer’s Iliad. Based on my experience with The Landmark Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander this year, I highly recommend exploring the Iliad through Reading Odyssey. The conference calls proved to be exceedingly informative (see this post for a sampling of the Arrian calls) and the discussion questions […]
Many thanks to Sheila O’Malley at The Sheila Variations for posting on the stage play An Iliad, playing at The Court Theatre in Chicago. There are more video excerpts on YouTube (see the links shown at the end of the clip) about the play, definitely worth checking out. Sheila links to a review by Chris […]
The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 240 pages, $24.00 ISBN: 9780374192150Steven Riddle at A Momentary Taste of Being gave this book a high recommendation and since I re-read The Odyssey lately (or so it seems to me) I thought I would check this book out from the library […]
Odysseus and Circe by Bartholomäus Spranger Picture source Of all the things that breathe and move along the ground, Earth does not raise anything more insignificant than man. He thinks he’ll never suffer any harm in days to come, as long as gods provide prosperity and his knees stay supple. But when blessed gods bring […]
Some stray thoughts on The Odyssey… The first thought has to do with the similarities and differences to The Iliad as well as references to the Trojan War in The Odyssey. Both works look at mortality and man’s need to accept it. Achilles, when presented with a choice of fates, initially chooses a long life. […]
Odysseus’ Palace According to Johann Heinrich Voss (1820) Let Death come down to slavish souls and craven heads with his sharp scythe and barren bones, but let him come to this lone man like a great lord to knock with shame on his five famous castle doors, and with great awe plunder whatever dregs that […]
Odysseus recognized by Euryclea by Gustave Boulanger (1849) Have Ithaka always in your mind. Your arrival there is what you are destined for. But do not in the least hurry the journey. Better that it last for years, so that when you reach the island you are old, rich with all you have gained on […]