MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - "How's that shroud coming along, Penelope?": The Odyssey Thread

Hamlet53 · 05-15-2012, 07:45 PM

So another week passed and another six books of the Odyssey read?

Things really moved along in Books 7-12. Much of what I recall of the story, told in pieces in derivative works, is all covered in these six books. The adventures in the cave of the Cyclops, coping with the enchantments of Circe, the journey to the Kingdom of the Dead, Odysseus alone allowed to listen to the song of the Sirens with the ears of his crew plugged, navigation past the twin threats of Scylla and Charybdis, and the fatal error Odysseus' crew makes in killing the cattle of Helios. Almost all of these adventures told in much more gruesome detail—dashing out of brains, crunching of bones, flowing of blood—then where I had read them before. That and all related by Odysseus in flashback during his stay at the court of the Phaeacia. Slight spoiler here, but by the end of book 13 we find Odysseus back on his home island of Ithaca. Unless more flashbacks are yet to come, that leaves the reaming 12 books devoted to Odysseus slaying the suitors for Penelope's hand and reclaiming his kingdom.

Reading Odysseus' recounting all these experiences I am struck by the self esteem problem he has. He really needs to stop dimming his light beneath a shade of modesty.

It would seem that the Gods are very capricious in what they demand of mortals. On the one hand a cardinal rule of Zeus is that strangers should be treated with generosity, and this the Phaeacians do by heaping gifts upon Odysseus stranded on their island and providing the ship that returns him to Ithaca. When Poseidon complains to Zeus about this though, Zeus encourages Poseidon to sink the ship killing all of the Phaeacian crew in sight of there home on return from Ithaca and then forever sealing off access to the sea.

I am even more struck by the depth of Athena's admiration and support form Odysseus, and must wonder why she (at least so far) has not chosen to make him a sexual partner. The male gods certainly are not at all inhibited from bedding down any mortal female that at all appeals to them.

Finally I am really appreciating all the reference notes available in the Fagles translation. For example Hermes is often referred to as “Hermes the giant-killer.” An epithet yes, but it is nice to know the reason this was chosen as an epithet for him.

05-15-2012, 07:45 PM	#17
Hamlet53 Nameless Being	So another week passed and another six books of the Odyssey read? Things really moved along in Books 7-12. Much of what I recall of the story, told in pieces in derivative works, is all covered in these six books. The adventures in the cave of the Cyclops, coping with the enchantments of Circe, the journey to the Kingdom of the Dead, Odysseus alone allowed to listen to the song of the Sirens with the ears of his crew plugged, navigation past the twin threats of Scylla and Charybdis, and the fatal error Odysseus' crew makes in killing the cattle of Helios. Almost all of these adventures told in much more gruesome detail—dashing out of brains, crunching of bones, flowing of blood—then where I had read them before. That and all related by Odysseus in flashback during his stay at the court of the Phaeacia. Slight spoiler here, but by the end of book 13 we find Odysseus back on his home island of Ithaca. Unless more flashbacks are yet to come, that leaves the reaming 12 books devoted to Odysseus slaying the suitors for Penelope's hand and reclaiming his kingdom. Reading Odysseus' recounting all these experiences I am struck by the self esteem problem he has. He really needs to stop dimming his light beneath a shade of modesty. It would seem that the Gods are very capricious in what they demand of mortals. On the one hand a cardinal rule of Zeus is that strangers should be treated with generosity, and this the Phaeacians do by heaping gifts upon Odysseus stranded on their island and providing the ship that returns him to Ithaca. When Poseidon complains to Zeus about this though, Zeus encourages Poseidon to sink the ship killing all of the Phaeacian crew in sight of there home on return from Ithaca and then forever sealing off access to the sea. I am even more struck by the depth of Athena's admiration and support form Odysseus, and must wonder why she (at least so far) has not chosen to make him a sexual partner. The male gods certainly are not at all inhibited from bedding down any mortal female that at all appeals to them. Finally I am really appreciating all the reference notes available in the Fagles translation. For example Hermes is often referred to as “Hermes the giant-killer.” An epithet yes, but it is nice to know the reason this was chosen as an epithet for him.