book of books - The Odyssey

The reason for reading Homer’s Odyssey was simply because I thought it would make reading James Joyce’s Ulysses easier. Being honest it did not do that because where there were references in Joyce they are either quite oblique or in the wrong order so unless you are really looking for them you miss them.

The surprising thing was that in its own right the book has a solid story and plenty of action at keep you interested and at some points reads like a script for a Sinbad the Sailor or Lord of the Rings film and at others like a who’s who of Olympian Gods.

Plot summary
Odysseus the hero has been marooned on an island for years after upsetting the gods on his way home from victory in Troy. Athena, Zeus’s daughter, looks him on with favour and so is allowed to leave his exile and head home and on the way tells of his adventures with Cyclops, sirens, spider legged six headed beasts and the Gods. But once home he discovers that suitors have moved into his palace and are waiting to marry Penelope his wife so he reveals his true identity to his son and with some old comrades who have remained loyal slaughter them all and things end happily ever after

Is it well written?
The text in set out in poetry form but it reads more like a piece of prose so that is sometimes a challenge. In style it reminds you of anything written in the same way, Dante springs to mind, and has the same dense text that makes you feel that half the time you are missing some crucial details. Having said that it is surprisingly easy to read and the story is gripping enough to make you want to stick with it, although at the end he does spin out the length of time it takes to reveal Odysseus is back and then dispatches the suitors.

Should it be read?
For most people the idea of going out and reading Homer for fun and not because some lecturer has told you to might seem odd. But this does link in with other texts, mot just Ulysses, and for that reason it is one of those books that has a wider relevance for someone who wants to get into literature so should be read.

Version read – there are numerous translations, even my local library stocked three, but I plumped for the Robert Fitzgerald translation in a Collins Harvill hardback

Great Odyssey link

I know the Odyssey is not everyone’s cup of tea but if you want to go through it quickly and get the benefit of the story without the need to go through some of the repetitive retelling of the years of Odysseus’s exile then the Odysseus web site is the best place I discovered while looking for Homer link’s that I can recommend.

The Odyssey - post X

This epic comes to an end and it has not been the experience I expected at all being much more accessible and enjoyable. You expect this to be a heavy tome that is full of intellectual but irrelevant content but that is far from the reality

Bullet points from chapters twenty two to twenty four

Twenty two
This is a chapter of carnage as one by one the suitors are slaughtered and Odysseus gets his revenge with the text merrily describing the punishment he hands out to the suitors

He then goes further and gets the women, twelve of them, who have betrayed him and gets those maids to take the corpses out and wash down the blood then they are taken and hanged for their disloyalty

Twenty three
There are some scholars, I got his surfing the web, that believe this is where the story should have ended and the next chapter was added later and it makes sense because it is the moment Odysseus and Penelope are reunited

Initially the wife refuses to accept that Odysseus has come back but then he reveals a secret only he would have known and she embraces him and listens as he recounts all that has happened on his travels

Twenty Four
The suitors head into the underworld and recount their tale of woe and blame Penelope for leading them on

Meanwhile Odysseus goes to visit his father and as before pretends at first to be a stranger and back in the town the fathers and friends decide to avenge the suitors deaths and a battle is just on the brink of starting when Athena comes down and orders them to stop and make peace

That’s all so I will post a full review in the next couple of days…

The Odyssey - post IX

This book has been a real surprise because it is nowhere near as dry as expected and has a real rip roaring yarn at its heart full of everything and the way that Homer builds things to the moment when Odysseus reveals himself has been repeated hundreds of times since in literature and in film

Bullet points from chapters nineteen to twenty one

Nineteen
Odysseus talks to Penelope and although she in a dream like state seems to recognise him she still goes to sleep weeping and prays for an end to her misery

Meanwhile Odysseus spends a mainly sleepless night seeing yet more evidence of how little respect there is in the palace for his family or his memory

Twenty
The pressure starts to build and the weapons are hidden from the suitors but they continue to laugh at Odysseus and his son and criticise the ‘tramp’ for staying around the palace

There are several servants who appear for the special holiday that are keen to express support for Odysseus even if it us unfashionable

Twenty One
Penelope ups the ante and brings out a bow and arrow that belonged to Odysseus and tells the suitors that the one that can fire the arrow accurately at a target will win her hand but they all fail to even pull the bow back

Odysseus asks for a go and despite protests gets the bow and pulls it back and this is the moment that we have all been waiting for when the suitors realise who they are dealing with

“Odysseus in one motion strung the bow.
Then slid his right hand down the cord and plucked it,
so the taut gut vibrating hummed and sang
a swallow’s note.

In the hushed hall it smote the suitors
and all their faces changed.”

The end comes tomorrow…

The Odyssey - post VIII

In between entering this whole debate about literary blogging and criticism it has been a really good day on the reading front and as well as getting stuck into Gogol a few more chapters were chipped away on the Homer front

Bullet points from chapters fifteen through eighteen

Fifteen
Athena goes back to get Odysseus son and in the meantime he hears the life story of the old man looking after the pigs and as a result of the tale the reader understands how loyal swineherd is to Odysseus family

Odysseus finds out that his wife is under siege from, suitors, that is father is not-eating and that the widespread feeling is that he is dead

Sixteen
The son returns and in a private moment Odysseus is revealed to him and they hatch a plan to attack the suitors

Penelope is told that her son has returned and the suitors, who were planning an ambush to kill him, return and regroup

Seventeen
Disguised as a tramp Odysseus comes to the palace and is taunted by the suitors and begs for food and as he does so he gets the chance to discover who is good and bad among the suitors – even though they are all going to be killed

Eighteen
As evening comes in Athena makes Odysseus see more things including the way the women in the palace take for granted Penelope and how the suitors expect an announcement to come soon of who will be chosen as a husband for Odysseus’s widow

Penelope asks to see the tramp but he replies that he will not come until nightfall so the scene is set for a meeting between husband and wife in the next chapter

The Odyssey - post VII

Things have been really busy today with family around so getting in some reading was seen as rude and inappropriate but to keep the Homer simmering I did manage to get a chapter in

Bullet points from chapter fourteen
* Disguised by Athena Odysseus goes and meets a loyal old friend Eumaios who is living with a herd of pigs in self imposed exile from the palace which he tells Odysseus is full of suitors who disrespect the memory of the king

* He shows loyalty to Odysseus even though the disguised stranger suggests he might be dead and shares food and lodging with him

Meanwhile Athena has gone to get Odysseus son to come back and join the fight against the suitors, which will be in the next chapter

The Odyssey - post VI

I have slipped a bit with reading Homer but here are the bullet points from chapter thirteen:

Thirteen
Odysseus finishes his story and is given safe passage as promised back to his homeland but Poseidon is angry that he has managed to get home and Zeus allows him to turn the boat to stone as a warning just as it returns to harbour

Athena comes to Odysseus and warns him that his palace is full of suitors and that he is going to have to kill them and asks him to wait while she goes to fetch his son to join him

More of that tomorrow as well...

The Odyssey - post V

The Odyssey continues to delight with stories that continue to amaze and paint visions of different worlds and Gods.

Bullet points from chapters eleven and twelve

Eleven
Answering the question about what he did before landing on the island Odysseus continues to recount tales of his voyage including the visit to the land of the dead where he meets old friends and his mother

He sees some of the gruesome sights in the land of the dead with Dante like tortures with a man having his insides picked out by vultures and a man constantly thirsty being surrounded by water which he can never drink

Twelve
The crew head back and meet Kirke and she warns them that they face the perils of the Sirens and a six headed beat that has twelve legs and will take six men off the boat as they pass the cliffs

Having gone past the worst the crew effectively mutinies and demands that the food for the voyage is shared up and then behind Odysseus’s back they decide to eat the cattle that have been stored on board as a sacrifice to the gods

Zeus sends a thunderbolt to destroy the ship and the crew are killed and Odysseus spends nine nights clinging onto the wreck before arriving at the island where Kalypso lives and the story so far is concluded

The Odyssey - post III

Things start to get interesting as Odysseus tells his story - a sort of Sinbad emporium of giant Cyclops and angry gods

Bullet points from chapters nine and ten

Nine
Odysseus starts to tell his story and how the army split after the victory at Troy and he set off and ran into problems with the Cyclops who turned out to be cannibals happy to eat members of his crew for breakfast

After managing to blind then escape from a Cyclops Odysseus taunts it from the sea and the giant prays to his father Poseidon to make sure the crew all dies and Odysseus has a terrible journey home

Ten
They start at Aiolia Island and the King helps them but when they reappear he understands that their journey is cursed so asks them to leave and they come across a land where the scouts sent to meet the king come across yet more cannibalism

They flee to a land with a hall in the middle of a glade and the goddess Kirke lives there and enchants the men and turns them into swine but Hermes comes and tells Odysseus how to break her spell but she tells him he cannot go home easily and must first sail to the land of the dead and go through some complex sacrificing rituals to make sure the gods are appeased

This is a great read and the only criticism would be that the adventures are sometimes too short leaving you wanting to know more about the different lands and the creatures/people who live on them

The Odyssey - post II

You have to wait for Odysseus to get off his island to start to get to parts of the story that are echoed in Ulysses

Bullet points from chapters five through to the end of eight

Five
Athena appeals to Zeus to protect Telemakhos from the suirours and Zeus says that Odysseus will have to leave the island alone on a raft for 20 days

Zeus sends Hermes to get the plan rolling and deal with Kalypso who is smitten with Odysseus and not that keen on letting him go but she helps him leave as it is the God's will and he sets off. But the God of hurricanes sees him and blows him about until his boat sinks and he has to swim to shore

Six
He is washed up on the shore of the land run by the Phalakians and he meets the princess and is taken back to the palace to wait to meet the king

Seven
He meets Akinoss the King who says that really after helping him he should marry his daughter but if he wants to leave he will provide him with a ship and crew and safe passage home

Eight
This is the first part that reminds you of Joyce or visa versa of course as the crew of the ship are listed and all have sea related names a bit like the tree names in the wedding in Ulysses

As the crew prepares to leave Odysseus comes under pressure to tell everyone who he is

More tomorrow and of Ulysses

The Odyssey - post I

Bearing in mind the influences that Homer’s work has on Ulysses it seems like a good idea before I miss all of the connecting points to catch up and read this before I get further into the Joyce next week.

Bullet points from the first four chapters

One
Odysseus has fought in the wards against Troy but is marooned on an island and lost from his family and people

Athena, daughter of Zeus asks for him to be released and then visits his son Telemakhos to tell him to sail to find news of his father

Suitors surround Penelope the wife of Odysseus but the son tells them to go away and leave his mother alone.

Two
Athena keeps appearing in different guises and gives Telemakhos the courage to tell the suitors to leave, that he is going after his father and will not give up hope for another year

As some in the crowd laugh at his speech Zeus sends eagles that scratch at the faces of those who disbelieve him

Athena organises a ship and crew and they head off in search of news of Odysseus

Three
They meet Nestor the master charioteer and tell him of their quest but all he can tell them is that after the war the leaders argued and some stayed but he fled home and that was the last he saw of Odysseus

He rumbles that Athena is with the ship and tells Telemakhos that a God is favouring him

Four
Next on the list to be visited is Menalous who tells a tale of how after the war he was stuck on an island and had to appease a sea god who told him that he was being punished for not giving praise to Zeus before they set sail for home

He asks after the other leaders and is told that one has been cast a drift and the other was killed by Poseidon after boasting of his power over the sea god

Meanwhile the suitors discover Telemakhos has sailed and plan to set sail intercept his boat and kill him

Penelope finds out and is crestfallen but Athena visits her and calms her

More tomorrow…