Odyssey Readalong Books 1 and 2.

I'm trying to be good about stopping and writing down my thoughts after every book I finish, but I haven't been good about typing up my thoughts and sharing them with those of you participating.

I thought it might help those of you tackling this for the first time to have a place to talk about things as you read, so I'm sure these posts will be a bit of summarizing, and a bit of my own observations reading through this for the umpteenth time. :)

I already discussed the opening lines, which remain my favorite lines of the entire work, but there is so much more that happens in the opening books! We don't start with dear Odysseus, but rather with his son Telemachus and his journey to set things right in Ithaca.

Book 1: Athena Inspires the Prince

So, after the opening lines of The Odyssey, in which the bard reciting the story invokes the Muses to inspire their recitation, we learn about the state of affairs in Ithaca since Odysseus has been away from home. When The Odyssey was originally recited, or performed, by the bards in Ancient Greece, everyone knew the history behind it-that men from Greece rallied behind Menelaus and Agamemnon to get Helen back from Paris. So, all the Greeks ventured to Troy to get Helen back, and after ten years of fighting, Odysseus comes up with the idea of the Trojan Horse and Troy falls.

It is now years later, and while many other men have returned home, or have perished on the way home (news has traveled to let their families know), nothing has been heard from Odysseus or his men. All of the gods, with the exception of Poseidon, have taken pity on Odysseus, who is still far from home in the clutches of Calypso. Poseidon is still a bit mad at Odysseus for stabbing out the Cyclops' eye (something we will read about in a bit), so he has delayed poor Odysseus from returning home. However, the rest of the gods agree to help Odysseus when Poseidon conveniently isn't in attendance, and Athena decides to interfere directly with Odysseus' son Telemachus so he can take back his home in preparation for Odysseus' return.

Athena disguises herself and arrives in Ithaca at Odysseus' home. In his long absence (which is 20 years by the time he eventually returns), his son has grown up and his home has been overrun by suitors for his wife. Athena arrives to discover the suitors lounging around the home, eating and drinking and otherwise dishonoring Odysseus in his absence. Telemachus seeks out the stranger and they talk. it is during this discussion that Telemachus confides that he is unsure of what to do-how to drive the suitors away from his home and mother and take back his home;

"Dear stranger, would you be shocked by what I say?
Look at them over there. Not a care in the world,
just lyres and tunes! It's easy for them, all right,
they feed on another's goods and go scot-free-
a man whose white bones lie strewn in the rain somewhere,
rotting away on land or rolling down the ocean's salty swells.
But that man-if they caught sight of him home in Ithaca,
by god, they'd all pray to be faster on their feet
than richer in bars of gold and heavy robes. 
But now, no use, he's died a wretched death.
No comfort's left for us...not even if
someone, somewhere, says he's coming home.
The day of his return will never dawn." (lines 184-196)

Poor Telemachus is clearly lost-he doesn't know what to do to regain his home and honor his father's memory. Unlike the other Greeks who fought at Troy, Odysseus' fate is unknown. Others who died in battle or on the way home-that news has already made it. Odysseus is simply lost, and because of the uncertainty surrounding where he is and what has happened to him, Telemachus is at a loss for what to do.

Athena counsels Telemachus to go abroad to seek news of his father and to "become a man." By leaving home and taking action, she is taking him away from the uncertainty and anger regarding the suitors and will empower him to seek his own fate. She suggests traveling to Sparta and Pylos to seek information about his father and his fate. Telemachus agrees to her plan before Athena leaves.

For reference: Ithaca (Odysseus' Home, Pylos, Sparta, and Troy (location of the Trojan War)

Telemachus and Penelope

Penelope appears briefly and talks with her son about missing Odysseus and wanting to be rid of the suitors plaguing their house. After she leaves, Telemachus musters the courage to call out the suitors for dishonoring his father, but they pay little attention. He turns to bed and goes to sleep thinking over Athena'a plan and whether he has the courage to accomplish what she has set for him.

Book 2: Telemachus Sets Sail

The second book of The Odyssey opens with Telemachus waking the morning after his talk with Athena. He calls the Achaens to assemble to speak about his plans. Athena only intervenes slightly;

"And Athena lavished a marvelous splendor on the prince
so the people all gazed in wonder as he came forward,
the elders making way as he took his father's seat." (lines 12-14).

Athena

Athena hopes to give Telemachus the illusion of manhood as he takes his father's role at the head of the counsel, especially because the counsel has not been called since Odysseus left some years before. Once together, Telemcahus speaks to the counsel and explains he was the one to call it. He outlines his plans and that there are 2 issues that need to be dealt with: 1. the loss of his father has created a huge hole in Ithaca and 2. there are suitors plaguing the house that are dishonoring his father and pressuring his mother.

The counsel turns on Telemachus. Many place blame on Penelope for not simply choosing a new suitor (she actually spent three years tricking the suitors by saying as soon as she finishing a weaving, she would marry, but she unraveled her weaving every night. They eventually caught on). In response to the negativity and anger pointed in Telemachus' direction, Zeus sends down eagles as a sign of the gods' favor toward Telemachus and his quest to find his father. This is ignored by the counsel.

Telemachus then outlines his plans for journeying to Pylos and Sparta in hopes of discovering Odysseus' fate. He is laughed at as the counsel disbands. Feeling discouraged, he prays to Athena and she encourages him to continue on with the plan, even without the support of the counsel;

"...Telemachus,
you'll lack neither courage nor sense from this day on,
not if your father's spirit courses through your veins-" (lines 302-304).

Telemachus returns home where the suitors also mock him for his plans, while Athena goes in search of a ship and crew for his journey. He makes plans with a servant to arrange supplies for the trip, then sneaks away to pack the ship and begin his journey in search of his father with Athena by his side.

 

Thoughts:

I've already mentioned that the parts most are familiar with in relation to The Odyssey are only a small piece of the story. Because in addition to Odysseus' actual journey home and the monsters he faces, there is also the coming of age of Telemachus, and Odysseus' plan to retake his home once he sets foot in Ithaca.

This first 4 books focus closely on Telemachus and the life he has without Odysseus at home. he is first portrayed a bit of a list boy. He was only a baby when Odysseus left for war, so he has grown up under the protection of his mother, Penelope, and the servants in the household. And once Odysseus didn't return, his home became overrun with suitors, eager for a chance to marry Penelope and take everything Odysseus worked for. Telemachus is lost. His mother is too consumed by her grief for Odysseus to notice that her son is suffering from the pressure of the suitors taking over the home. Telemachus has no male role model to guide him, so once the gods interfere, he is eager for their help.

I quite enjoy the story of Telemachus. He IS weak at the beginning-he allows the open dishonor of his parents and lacks the courage to stand up for them. It is only after Athena speaks with him and inspires him to be proactive that he gains the courage to speak out to those around him. As Athena tells him, he must "become a man." The first step is take action be seeking information about his father and where he may be. 

We still have two more books that focus on Telemachus. He'll visit Pylos and Sparta to learn about his father's whereabouts before returning home to deal with the suitors. We'll see more growth from him, but it is only when Odysseus comes home that we see that he does, eventually, "become a man."

The other thing I want to mention is the interference of the gods. The Greek gods are notorious for interfering with mortals, and Odysseus has been a victim of that. Poseidon hates Odysseus, for many reasons we'll learn later, and has prevented him from returning home. The other gods only interfere when Poseidon is occupied elsewhere, a fact that cracks me up every time I read it. But you do have to keep in mind that since Odysseus must return by sea, Poseidon can really prevent his journey. 

But Athena is sick of sitting by and watching as things turn sour in Ithaca. As the story continues, we'll see the places where the gods decide things are important enough to interfere...and what they let go. 

**Please let me know if this format was helpful for you. And ask questions below! I'd love to get a bit of discussion going.*

Odyssey Readalong: Structure and First Lines.

My copy.

 I'm really excited to begin rereading The Odyssey. There is something about it that simply inspires me every time I read a passage. I feel as if it is almost an extension of myself, and it is probably one of the only books that I can recite lines from without mistake.

I've lost count as to how many times I've read it in whole. There are many times when I will pull an edition off the shelf just to read a section. The Fagles edition (pictured) is my most well-loved copy, as it was the one I read from when I studied it in college. At the time, I didn't understand my professor's intention in having his class of freshman English majors read it for weeks on end when all the other classes were diving into Dickens, Brontes, and Austen. Where they read a novel a week, we pored over every line of Homer's The Odyssey. Reading my edition is like revisiting my time in his classroom. There are passages highlighted in purple, post-it notes marking reading assignments, and little notes jotted in the margins (as well as poorly drawn caricatures of my tweed-wearing professor). Now I am glad he made us study it. I only wish I got to study everything I read as deeply as I studied The Odyssey.

In any case, it is a book that has followed me in my life. It served as the inspiration for my place here on the internet and was the first book I marked off my list of 250. I haven't read it fully since then (nearly 4 years ago), so I miss it.

Most kids read an abridged version of The Odyssey when they are in school. Our district places the reading of it in our 9th grade year (along with To Kill a Mockingbird and Romeo and Juliet). The abridged version focuses mainly on Odysseus, a hero of the Trojan War who is struggling to come home after 20 years away. In the version our students read, it picks up with Odysseus telling his story and focuses on his battles against the various monsters of the Greek isles, his time with Circe, and his eventual return home to Penelope. Granted, those are some of the most interesting of the books included in the whole story, but they only comprise about half of the actual text (I think the actual number is 9....out of 24 books). The abridged version most are familiar with leave out the story and coming of age of Telemachus, Odysseus' son, and the well-detailed and drawn out homecoming of Odysseus to Ithaca (the last 12 books...so essentially HALF of the text).

I find that while I really enjoy Odysseus' exploits (you know, the murder, deceit, and that journey to the land of the dead), I also really enjoy Telemachus and his coming of age. Not to mention, the reuniting of Telemachus and Odysseus at home and the big "finale" of the story in Ithaca. Those are the pieces I'm glad I studied in college. I appreciate them more and find that they tell more of a story than defeating the Cyclops (that scene does have some wonderful imagery...).

Anyway, the whole story begins with the bard, those responsible for actually telling the tale in ancient Greece. The opening lines, according to Fagles, go like this.

“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy.
Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds,
many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea,
fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home.
But he could not save them from disaster, hard as he strove—
the recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all,
the blind fools, they devoured the cattle of the Sun
and the Sungod wiped from sight the day of their return.
Launch out on his story, Muse, daughter of Zeus,
start from where you will-sing for our time too.”

I love his call for inspiration-for the right words to tell the story of Odysseus as he should. And it really is the last two lines that grab me every time-that inspire me to want to read on and relearn the story of Odysseus and his son. Because from the beginning, we know that Odysseus is a man who has know heartache and struggle. He has lost his men and is simply trying to return home against all odds and the wishes of the gods. But he will persevere and return.

I love that.

It inspires me.

Now, I'm going to go read the rest of the first book and become absorbed in the tale all over again. 

The Odyssey Readalong Master Post and Launch.

 It's hard to believe that it is July 1st already, and the beginning of our readalong of Homer's The Odyssey. I pulled my (rather battered) copy off my shelf last night and flipped through it. It brought back many memories, and a surge of excitement as we begin our venture through Homer's masterpiece.

I'm not lying when I say that The Odyssey is one of my favorite pieces of classic literature. There is something about the language and emotion of the story that grabs me every time. I love the perseverance of Odysseus, the hopeful nature of Telemachus, and Athena's quest to right the wrongs of the gods. It is a story deep with history and culture, but it is one that inspires me whenever I read a passage.

While only a few bloggers have officially agreed to join me on our little readalong, I'm hoping that as go along, more will be inspired to join in. This readalong is meant to be stress-free. This post will stand for the duration of the readalong and will be a place for us to link our posts as we read. I don't expect that everyone else will post multiple times, but I'm planning on posting as I finish each of the 24 books that comprise The Odyssey. I hope that my posts will serve as guidelines for those of you who are tackling it for the first time. And since this formed the basis for my very first English class in college (we spent 10 weeks of the semester reading, analyzing, and learning about it), I do have more than a little knowledge. But my main goal is to be inspired to reembark on my own literary odyssey, since I have pretty much abandoned it.

Anyway, I will be reading the Robert Fagles edition, which is my favorite of the 5 editions I've read (and own-obsessive, yes). I find it to be the more poetic form and lends itself easily to being read aloud. Since The Odyssey was originally intended to be performed by bards, it seems fitting to read a version that aligns with that feeling. And I will admit that I will often read passages aloud to myself. :)

The only guidelines for the readalong is that you finish by August 31. Make sure to post by then. I think I'll give out a prize to someone who finishes by then, so if you need a bit of extrinsic motivation, there you go. ;) The Mister Linky is below for any of your posts on The Odyssey. Feel free to post away.

Good luck!

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Auto-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
For best results, use HTML mode to edit this section of the post.

The Odyssey Readalong Sign-Ups.

A very long time ago (almost a year ago), I volunteered to host a readalong of Homer's The Odyssey for The Classics Club. It was a commitment I made at the very beginning of the formation of The Classics Club, and one that I have been excited to fulfill. Even with my...limited blogging as of late, I knew that this was approaching and my excitement to share one of my favorite books with other book bloggers has me raring to go.

So, without further adieu, The Odyssey readalong:

 

I have a very soft spot in my heart for Homer. The Odyssey was the very first book that I read for my personal classics challenge, and a book that I often think about as I debate the purpose and future of my blog. Nothing is more exciting to me than being able to share this with you and help you discover one of the oldest works in existence. 

The readalong will not be a strict one. The general idea is to read the book within the 2-month timeframe and write a post at some point (or at multiple points) about your experience reading the book. I will be posting periodically about my own insights and experiences with the book, as well as (hopefully) offering some insight to the story and characters. 

The ending date for this is special to me...it will end one day before my 4-year blog anniversary, and 4 years after I decided to sit down with The Odyssey to jump-start my classics journey. In many ways, I feel like this readalong is going to bookend a lot of what I have done here...and it will hopefully re-inspire me to continue forward with my classics journey. I hope you will be along for the ride.

To participate, please sign up using the Mister Linky below. I will have a master post on the first of July for you to link to as you post about your own "odyssey" through Homer.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Auto-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
For best results, use HTML mode to edit this section of the post.

The Classics Club Monthly Meme: August 2012.

One of the newest features on the new Classics Club Blog is the Monthly Meme. It's a great way to bring members of The Classics Club together to talk about what we're reading!

This month's question is simply, "What is your favorite classic book? Why?"

I think that this is a great place to start, but it is also such a HARD question. I know that most of you can relate. How can you narrow it down to ONE favorite book?

Off the top of my head, and going with my gut, I have to give the title of the book that has inspired my own classics journey and the name of my blog-Homer's The Odyssey. As one of the oldest classics I have read, it has always struck me how this story has captured the minds of so many generations. From those who sat around in the starlight in Ancient Greece to listen to Homer, to the ninth grade students in my school district who read an abridged version every spring. There is something so powerful and mystical about the whole book that I often find myself remembering lines, scenes, and images from my many readings of the book.

I think it is more than just the story for me. It is truly about the personal connection I have to The Odyssey and what it has done for me since I picked it up almost three years ago at the beginning of my blogging journey. I can remember lying on my bed in my parents' house (because I was still living there then) when I started the journey with Odysseus home to Ithaca...

“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy.
Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds,
many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea,
fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home.
But he could not save them from disaster, hard as he strove—
the recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all,
the blind fools, they devoured the cattle of the Sun
and the Sungod wiped from sight the day of their return.
Launch out on his story, Muse, daughter of Zeus,
start from where you will-Sing for our time too.”

There is something about those lines that gets me every time I think of them. Of calling to the Muse to inspire and set the story straight from the beginning. For hoping that the Muse gives the reader and speaker the courage and knowledge to tell the story correctly from the beginning, to honor the man the story is about, and to sing the story so that it matters in our time too. It inspires me, thinking about those lines.

And as I continue to move forward in my classics journey, and a new chapter in my life as a permanent teacher, I know I will be constantly thinking of Homer and his words. In some ways, it seems almost silly for me to say that I struggled to pick a favorite classics. But in this moment, in this time, I can think of no other but the book that started this entire project for me.

Book 112: "Agamemnon." (The Oresteia)

One of my favorite books in The Odyssey is when Odysseus travels to the land of the dead. There, he meets many figures from his past, including the great hero, Agamemnon. There, Odysseus learns what happened to Agamemnon when he returned home from Troy. When Agamemnon tells Odysseus of his murder and betrayal by his wife, it sets up the ending books of The Odyssey and what Odysseus finds when he returns home.

The fallen hero, Agamemnon, is the feature of the first of Aeschylus' triology The Oresteia. The first play is fittingly titled Agamemnon. It is short and can be easily read in one sitting. And like Homer's works, it should really be read out loud (it was performed after all). I read it out loud to my cats, but I am sure your plants would benefit as well (and no, my cats did not like my reading. They slept).

I was pretty excited to dive into this play. Since I have a deep and abiding love for The Odyssey, I am pretty familiar with what ghost Agamemnon tells Odysseus. But I have always wanted to know more. I got more.

The drama begins with Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, declaring that Troy has fallen and Agamemnon will return home. She also boasts of some "inappropriate" things to the Chorus, who chastise her to the audience. It is here that we get the back story of Agamemnon.

His brother, Menelaus, is the man who WAS married to Helen, before she ran off with Paris to Troy. As Menelaus' brother, he had to go to war as well, and commanded much of the battle over Troy. The important backstory is what he did before he left. After seeing an oracle before departing, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter to get a fair wind to Troy. Needless to say, Clytemnestra is not too happy with him. And she probably has reason to be angry.

When Agamemnon does return in the drama, he has little to say to Clytemnestra. You would think that after being gone for ten years he would have tender words for his wife, but he doesn't. Instead, the scene is tense. It also doesn't help that he brought a war prize home with him, a girl named Cassandra, who also happens to be a prophet of sorts. After Agamemnon and Clytemnestra venture indoors, Cassandra begins to prophesize, basically affirming that Clytemnestra has taken a lover and they plan to murder Agamemnon. She also utters that their son will avenge Agamemnon's death. Then she also goes inside.

The Chorus discusses this until two cries are heard from Agamemnon, and yep, his body is brought out at the hands of Clytemnestra and her lover. They have also murdered Cassandra.

The play more or less ends there, and it gives greater detail to the story Agamemnon tells Odysseus in The Odyssey. After being away from home for ten years, Agamemnon was betrayed in his own home. Again, I can't help but compare this to Odysseus' own homecoming to Penelope and the anxious feeling he must of had in his stomach. In Odysseus' case, however, he was gone 20 years. Interesting in comparing the two, right? I was fascinated!

What I loved most about diving into this was the further depth I got in this area of Greek history. I also like that the two writers, years and years apart, give us the story of his death in different ways.

In any case, I am looking forward to the second part, The Libation Bearers, to see how Agamemnon's son avenges his death.

Blogversary Giveaway #5

Yep. Blogversary. And yep. 'Nother giveaway.

Today is September 1st. Two years ago, on September 1, I sat down and cracked open my college copy of Homer's Odyssey. I began this whole process with a feeling of excitement, trepidation, and yes, a little doubt. I really felt back then that I would give up shortly through the process.

However, here I am, STILL reading a bookish diet of classics. Sure, I have meandered a few times into other areas (for example, last November I read ONLY children's classics). But, I am still reading classic after classic. I have added quite a few authors to my "favorites" list, as well as given second and third chances to authors I still don't really care for (that would be Dickens).

Most of all, I have grown a lot in this process. While I don't feel "smarter," I do feel like I have a lot of things stored up that many people do not. I feel like I have something to offer. And quite frankly, I feel bad for all those people and school districts who don't see that.

Anyway, two years ago I began with The Odyssey, so it is fitting that I give away a copy, right? Here it is:



Yep, it is another Penguin clothbound (I can't help it). But it wants to go home with one of you, and for this one, you need to make sure you answer the question I ask, or I definitely won't count your entry! Got it?

Here are the rules:

• The giveaway ENDS Sunday, September 4, 2011 at 11:59 EST.
  
• You must be 13 or older to enter.
• You must live in the U.S. (internationals-go see giveaway 3!)
• You can only enter once.
• You do not have to "follow" or subscribe (but do if you so feel the desire)
• You must leave your e-mail in your comment so I can contact you if you win.
• If you win, you have 24 hours to respond or I will choose a new winner.
• In your comment/entry below, answer the following question: If you embarked on a literary odyssey of your own, what five books would you put on your list? (they don't have to be classics, but they should be books that will "define" you in some way, or have a significant impact on you).
  
• Winner will be chosen randomly using random.org

Good luck!

The Iliad Readalong Post 2: Books 13-24.

Welcome to post 2 of the readalong for Homer's The Iliad! I was really excited about this one, and I am glad I got to share in the fun with all of you.

I was expecting great things for this one, since The Odyssey is one of my all-time favorites. Where The Odyssey seems a little more intimate, this one seemed so in my face from the beginning. The names, the gods, the places....it was all over the place and people were appearing left and right...it was a little overwhelming at the beginning, especially getting through book 2, but I persevered and finished it.

I enjoyed learning more about the history that is referenced in The Odyssey and other Greek works. It was interesting to see Achilles as he was intended, as well as the other Greek heroes. I was enthralled with the descriptions of war, of Troy, and of those pesky gods who continually interfered and influenced the fighting.

I felt that we saw much more of the gods than I thought they would. They certainly added to the drama, and every time they popped up, I almost felt they were there for comic relief. ;) I jest, but I truly did enjoy their antics and pestering of the mortals.

My biggest annoyance with it was all of the battle scenes and the length. There were times when I wanted something else to happen-some more depth to the characters beyond their fantastic sword skills. Don't get me wrong, I love a good battle scene, but let's be honest, their war was slightly ridiculous and lasted far too long. :)

My favorite aspect of reading this was seeing Odysseus before he is a broken man in The Odyssey. Here, he seemed so much more youthful and carefree. He is a man away from home and ready to fight. In pieces of The Odyssey, you truly feel for him as he struggles to get home to his wife and son. It was an interesting transformation for me to accept, and I wonder how I would have viewed the two had I read them opposite the way I did.

Once again, I enjoyed and loved Fagles' translation. He has a way of catching the cadence of reading aloud that I simply love. I read many portions of this out loud to myself and my cats, just to "feel" the story as it was intended. I would love to listen to this (as well as The Odyssey) on audio, just to have the full experience of being read to by a bard. ;) I will say that I could only read to myself when Matt was gone, since it irritated him to no end!

Overall, this was an incredible reading experience. I was excited to read more about the Greeks, and this only made me anxious to read more of the Greek pieces left on my list (I do have quite a few left!). That being said, The Odyssey still trumps this one as my favorite. There is something about Odysseus' passion that I really love, as well as Telemachus' growth into manhood. If you haven't read The Odyssey yet, please go do so as soon as possible.

Please leave a comment and a link to your post below so I may link them here! Thank you for joining in on the fun!

The Iliad Readalong Post 1: Books 1-12.

Welcome to Post 1 of the May 2011 Readalong of Homer's The Iliad hosted here at A Literary Odyssey!

I know that I was excited to dive into this one since The Odyssey is one of my all-time favorite books, and I am not disappointed. Homer is truly coming alive in this, and I am LOVING it.

I'm reading from the lovely Robert Fagles translation (that makes up our image), and I truly love the voice and lyricality he gives to Homer's story. While I know he is not true to the meter of Homer's original tale, I truly believe that he captures the sense and mood of Homer's original story.

After reading a number of translations of The Odyssey in college, I definitely fell in love with Fagles. I feel like he truly "gets" how Homer and other bards would have told this story.

And going into reading The Iliad, I have kept this in mind. This was not a story that was read. It was a story that was performed to the masses by a bard. The bard would chant and give dramatic flair to the story and battle scenes. It wasn't just a reading in someone's head, but a form of entertainment.

Reading this, I try to capture that sense of the dramatic in my own mind. I try to "perform" the story as it unfolds. This has truly made it come alive. It has made some of those long battle-filled passages come alive! Try reading this passage once in your head and once aloud to see what I mean,

"Sing to me now, you Muses who hold the halls of Olympus!
You are goddesses, you are everywhere, you know all things-
all we hear is the distant ring of glory, we know nothing-
who were the captains of Achaea? Who were the kings?
The mass of troops I could never tally, never name,
not even if I had ten tongues and ten mouths,
a tireless voice and the heart inside me bronze,
never unless you Muses of Olympus, daughters of Zeus
who shield is rolling thunder, sing, sing in memory
all who gathered under Troy. Now I can only tell
the lords of the ships, the ships in all their numbers!"

So dramatic and lovely, especially when read out loud.

I was reading little bits and pieces aloud on Saturday while working at the park. While they were laughing at my dramatics, it made the story jump off the page and come to life-something you just don't get when you read inside your head. I also enjoyed reading this little line out loud,

"And Thetis answered, bursting into tears,
'O my son, my sorrow, why did I ever bear you?
All I bore was doom...'"

So gloomy. But wonderful.

For those of you reading along, read a passage or two out loud when you continue on and see the difference it makes in the story. It is worth it, believe me.

As for the story, I am enjoying it. Even though I already know I will love The Odyssey more for sentimental reasons, this is just as passionate and as thrilling. I love the scenes in the beginning between Hera and Zeus. Like The Odyssey, the gods and goddesses interfere in the lives of the mortals more than they probably should. But I feel like we get to see them interact more than we did in Odysseus' tale (maybe they learned to butt out then), and their influence is rampant in the amount of sacrifice going on.

The hardest part for me in reading this first chunk was in Book 2, when the bard begins to recall the men there to fight and those who came with the big heroes. Lists of names, numbers of ships, etc. It seemed like it would never end. Plus, I had no idea who anyone was. But, I soldiered through and it has been wonderful since then. I have VERY high hopes for the remainder!

How are you all feeling here at the halfway point? Ready to plunge through the second half? Leave a comment here with a link to your post so I can link it!

See you on May 31 for your final thoughts!

Weekly Wrap-up for April 17, 2011.

I just typed in the date and had a mini-freakout. This month is flying by! I suppose when you are working two jobs and recovering from pneumonia, these things happen. :)

I am feeling much better by the way. After going to the doctor on Wednesday afternoon, he ordered me to stay home in bed on Thursday and Friday. I did that and while I still don't feel 100%, I do feel a lot better than I did early next week. I worked yesterday (the park) and I think I am on the mend.

Going into this week, I need to remind myself to take it easy and not overdo it. Luckily we have a 4 day week (we have Good Friday off), so that will definitely help. I am trying to keep a balance between school and my home life as I continue working through the middle of June. I think that is the only way to keep my head on straight as I continue to work both jobs (if you missed it on Friday, I announced that I would be continuing to teach, as the teacher I am subbing for decided she is not coming back this school year-definitely exciting).

Anyway, I am feeling good about things after having time to digest everything, and I am looking forward to spending the next 9 weeks with my kids. :)

Reading and blogging has suffered a little, but I have made a few changes to keep my head on straight. I have some personal goals I am working on, so hopefully you'll see some of that happening here. :)

One personal goal I don't mind sharing is that I am trying to get back in the gear of going to the gym on a more regular basis (right now, I physically can't do some things because of the pneumonia). I decided to combine that with my desire to read all of the Harry Potter books before the last movie comes out in July. I have all the books on CD, so I am going to be burning them to my IPod so I can listen to them while at the gym. I have to finish them before the movie, so this is a great motivator.

I launched the next two readalongs yesterday. I realized as I was getting ready to put the posts up that I was going to be diving into both The Iliad and The Aeneid at the same time. That didn't sound fun to me so I switched Virgil out for Dostoevsky's The Idiot. If you are interested in signing up for both, or would like to spread the word, here are the links:

• May/June 2011 Readalong for Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot
• May 2011 Readalong for Homer's The Iliad

I am planning on making some big progress with the books I am currently reading. The first one I need to finish is Lady Chatterley's Lover for the second readalong post (I should finish it today). Next up I need to plow through Atlas Shrugged. I put it aside a little while ago and I suppose that I need to read it...*grumble*.

I also started Their Eyes Were Watching God during the last few hours of the readathon, but haven't touched it since. I also have a big urge to read Silas Marner, so maybe I can squeeze those in before the end of the month.

How has your reading been going? What are your plans for the coming week?

The Iliad May 2011 Readalong Sign-ups.

Welcome to the sign-up post for the May 2011 readalong of Homer's The Iliad hosted here at A Literary Odyssey! I am very excited about this one (and only slightly bummed that my reading of the Hardy novel it beat out will be delayed).

I love The Odyssey and it was the first book I discussed here. It inspired my blog and everything I have accomplished since starting this wondrous piece of the internet up. While I have read The Iliad, it was a long time ago, and it was a bad translation. I am excited to be getting back into the wonders of the Greeks with this title.

If you aren't sure if you want to tackle this one or not, here is a little synopsis taken from Goodreads.com;

"One of the greatest stories ever told, The Iliad has survived for thousands of years because of its insightful portrayal of man and its epic story of war, duty, honor, and revenge.

While The Iliad recounts the war between the Trojans and Achaeans, it also is the tragic story of the fiery-tempered Achilles. Insulted by his king, the proud Achilles decides to stand by as his comrades are annihilated, but circumstances finally spur the warrior to wreak savage retribution upon Troy.

The battle between the Trojans and Achaeans stirs ancient passions and vendettas among the gods of Olympus. While the two armies of mortals confront each other, the gods fly to earth to aid their allies and confound their enemies. Soon, they too enter the fray alongside the men, which leads to an attempt to betray Zeus himself, the supreme king of Olympus.

Woven among the battle scenes are the stories of the men and women caught in the war: the Trojan prince Hector, who is torn between duty and love for his wife and young son; Helen, who is the most beautiful woman in the world, but who comes to regret being born; and Priam, the king of Troy, who is too old to battle, but has the strength for one final act of courage."

Like I said, I can't wait to read this one with all of you. Now, be warned that this one is a little bigger than some of the other ones, and it will vary greatly depending on your translation. Make sure you pick a translation you like before you begin (I suggest going and reading the first couple pages of a few at the store before deciding).

The page breakdown is based on my own edition (the same edition that makes up our image for the readalong). I love Robert Fagles and he is a marvelous translator. His translation of The Odyssey is by far my favorite.

Here is the breakdown and it goes by the "books" that make up the tale. There are 24 books, and in my edition (the one translated by Fagles), the actual text of The Iliad is 536 pages.

• Post 1 will go up on May 16 (a Monday). Post 1 will cover books 1-12 (263 pages)
• Post 2 will go up May 31 (a Tuesday). Post 2 will cover books 13-24 (273 pages)

I hope that many of you will decide to join in! If you are planning on it, please comment below with a link to your blog (so I can link your name here). I will see on the battlefields of Troy! (<- see what I did there? Clever, aren't I?)

Participants:

KC
Kristi
Read the Book
Becca A.
terri-maree
Avid Reader
Aarti
Grace
Karen
Ellie
Phanee
Gabe
Coreena

College English Classes: Post 1-Intro to English.

I was talking with Eva the other night on Twitter (I believe it was Tuesday) when we got on the subject of the classes I took in college for my English degree and what books I read. It got me all excited, remembering when I discovered some of my favorite authors and the wonderful books I got to read.

Since I was double majoring, I did a lot of reading in college, for two reading intensive degrees (English and history). Both majors required TONS of reading, which I was all too happy to comply with. Granted, some things were more interesting than others. And since I was going into teaching, I also got to take some specialized classes in both majors that were a blast (like my young adult lit class).

So, I started thinking back to these old classes, the books I read, and the wonders I learned about. I felt it would make for interesting reflections now (7 years away from that freshman year in college). Perhaps you will get some suggestions from my old reading lists, or can give me more titles and writers to investigate in the future.


The first class I wanted to talk about in this first post was the Introduction to English course that every English major at Michigan State had to take. There was one course that was a prerequisite before this English class (it was a writing intensive class), but I tested out of it. So, the sole English course I took as a freshman in college was Intro to English.

I can remember buying the books before the semester started. We only had two texts, whereas all the other sections of this class had at least 6 or 7. A very big part of me was sad that I wasn't going to read more, and I was stuck with a measly two books. It was a sad beginning for an English major who loved to read.

The two texts we had for class were Homer's The Odyssey (translation by Robert Fagles) and the Norton Guide to Classical Literature. I still own both books and they are sitting on my shelves right this minute. :) My professor also gave us packets with other pieces and translations I'll mention in a minute.

The professor had the lowest ratings of any professor on MSU's teacher rating site. I was not impressed. He had this habit of clenching his teeth together at the end of every sentence and sucking in air through the corners of his mouth to make this loud "swishing-swooshing" sound as the air hit the spit in his mouth. It drove me absolutely insane.

But this professor knew his material. We started the semester discussing The Odyssey. We spent two class periods (4 hours), just talking about the opening stanza. We read at least five other translations before reading the one from our edition (Fagles);

“Sing to me man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy.
Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds,
many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea,
fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home.
But he could not save them from disaster, hard as he strove—
the recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all,
the blind fools, they devoured the cattle of the Sun
and the Sungod wiped from sight the day of their return.
Launch out on his story, Muse, daughter of Zeus,
start from where you will-Sing for our time too.”

I fell a little bit in love with Homer after reading that intro-a love affair which has yet to stop. As we progressed forward through The Odyssey, we would spend so much time diving into the details of Homer's work-the imagery, the message, and the power of what he wrote. Never in any of my English classes had I felt that kind of passion and respect for a piece of writing. I loved it.

When we finally finished The Odyssey, we spent the rest of the semester reading other Greek pieces. From Norton, we read Antigone, Oedipus Rex, and bits of Sappho's poetry. I was so enthralled by Sappho that I purchased an edition of her poems and devoured it on my own time. He brought us other translations of these works to compare, as well as other bits and pieces from Greek tragedies. We also spent a "fun" class period discussing Greek myths and legends, which my professor waved off as "rubbish."

I should also note there was one class period that we read a bunch of Emily Dickinson poems. You see, my professor was related to her (he told us nearly every class period that he was), so this was a necessity. It had nothing to do with the rest of the class focus.

Where the other classes were reading about the beginnings of the novel, we were discussing the history of the oral tradition and where we had once been. It was an eye-opening class. At the time, I don't think I fully understood what he was trying to do. More than anything else, he was showing us the beginning, and where many things stemmed form. Those nights spent huddled over my copy of The Odyssey (which is battered and highlighted as a result of those nights) were to teach me how our stories were originally remembered. We didn't always write them down, but passed them along by word of mouth.

It was a powerful class and one I am glad to remember. Besides The Odyssey, the only other work I have revisited since then is that of Sappho. Both Oedipus Rex and Antigone are on my project list, but I haven't gotten to them yet. Soon!

You can also probably tell that The Odyssey is what inspired my own journey here. The name for this was inspired by one of my favorite books. I find so much inspiration in Homer's words,

"Launch out on his story, Muse, daughter of Zeus,
start from where you will-Sing for our time too."

When I started this whole thing, I was launching on my own odyssey with inspiration from the muses around me. In fact, that quote is on a paper I keep by my desk. In the moments when I feel like quitting (at anything), reading those words brings me back to my purpose here. And to think, I owe it all to the English professor who had the lowest ratings of his entire department! I wonder what he would say now if he knew?

So here are some questions for you, dear readers. If you were to teach an Intro to English course, which titles would you require your class to read and why? And if you have taken a course like this, what titles did you read? Dig deep and tell me! :)

If you all like this post, I have many other classes and reading lists to talk about (including a young adult lit class where we read 30 titles in a semester). Perhaps I can post one every other week until I run out? Let me know!

Book 1: Finished.

My mom came in my room this morning to find me propped up in bed finishing The Odyssey. At the time she came in to “wake me up,” I only had 100 pages left and I was determined to finish.

I took a break to shower before I had to leave for work and when I re-entered my room, I found our yellow lab, Sadie, curled up on my bed fast asleep. Sitting next to her was my copy of the book. I laughed and she didn’t even flinch, which is pretty normal once she’s passed out asleep on my bed. I finished getting ready and plopped down on the other side of my bed to finish the last 30 pages or so.

The last 30 pages are pretty intense and even though I jumped once, Sadie didn’t move. She just stayed curled up in her little ball, fast asleep.

Until I slammed the book shut when I finished. She opened her eyes then as if to say, “What is so important that you woke me up from my deep and peaceful slumber?”

I looked at her, called her lazy, and promptly told her that I had finished the first book of 250 and that she should be insanely proud of me. It was a crowning achievement, that the first book was done and I could move on to the next and that I was so happy to be doing this project!

Instead of immediately jumping up and running around for joy with me, she let out a low, long fart and promptly closed her eyes to fall back asleep while I evacuated my own room for fresher air.

So much for celebration and accomplishment.

And for your viewing pleasure, there is the little stinker tonight (sent to sleep on the floor rather than my bed) with The Odyssey. Doesn’t she look thrilled?



One book down, 249 to go…

Book 1: In Three Parts.

There are basically three different parts of The Odyssey.

The first part is centered on Telemachus, the son Odysseus left behind. Telemachus was only an infant when Odysseus left for Troy. At the start of The Odyssey, Telemachus is around 20 years old and suffering at home. Since his father failed to return from the Trojan War, his mother has attracted suitors from the neighboring area, who have all settled in their house. Penelope, his mother and Odysseus’ wife, has tried to placate the suitors and tricks them, but they eventually get sick of her tricks and want her to pick one of them.

In desperation, Telemachus travels to Pylos and Sparta to talk with King Nestor and King Menelaus about his father. The goddess Athena guides him to do this as a way of helping him grow up and get Odysseus home.

(On a side note, I should point out that the movie Troy, with the dashing Brad Pitt, got quite a few important facts wrong in the film. Menelaus does NOT die in Troy. He returns home. Also, the little lady Helen, you know, the one who started the war in the first place? She is back where she belongs by Menelaus’ side).

The second part of the story switches to Odysseus. At the time the story switches, he is still on Calypso’s island. She is approached by the gods and told to release him, which she does (Odysseus had been with her for 7 years at this point). On his way from Calypso’s island, Poseidon sees him trying to go home and sends a storm after him. Odysseus washes ashore on the island belonging to the Phaeacians. There, he recounts his travels from the end of the Trojan War to that point.

After fighting at Troy for ten years, Odysseus had departed with his men and raided a nearby civilization. Loaded down with treasures, they are caught up in a storm and end up at the island of the Cyclops, son of Poseidon (the sea god). While exploring, Odysseus and a group of his men get locked into the cave of the Cyclops, who starts to eat them one by one. The men form a plan and blind the Cyclops by shoving a red-hot stake into his eye.

Poseidon soon learns of the Cyclops’ fate and determines that Odysseus and his men will not reach home. After the Cyclops, the rest of Odysseus’ ships are destroyed near an island of giants before they find themselves on Circe’s island. She turns some of his men into swine, and again, a plan must be hatched to rescue the men. Odysseus eventually outwits her and she consents to helping them, but a year passes before the men actually leave, to excited to enjoy the comforts of her home.

After Circe, Odysseus makes a trip to the Kingdom of the Dead to gain advice from those who went before him, including a seer who will prophesize what he must do in the future in return for the gods’ help. While conversing with the dead, Odysseus learns the fate of his mother, and of his friend Agamemnon. Unlike Penelope, Agamemnon’s wife was not pining for him, but instead hatched a plot to kill him on his return.

They return briefly to Circe’s island to gain advice for the rest of their trip. Their next obstacle is getting past the Sirens, who lure men to their island. They also have to get past the whirlpool of Charybdis and the six heads of Scylla.

It is after all of this that they land on the island of Helios, the sun-god. Ignoring the warning not to eat his cattle, the men do and they are killed, all save Odysseus. That is when he finds his way to Calypso, where he stays for the next seven years.

The third part tells of the return of Odysseus. With the help of the Phaeacians, Odysseus finds passage home. Telemachus also finds a way home and they reunite. Together, the plot the demise of the suitors in their home and slaughter every man and the women of the household who betrayed the memory of Odysseus.

The middle part that focuses on the travels and adventures of Odysseus is usually the most well-known piece. It’s the section that is in most textbooks for high-schoolers. The other two parts are usually incredibly condensed and never really developed.

I actually think the first and last parts are more interesting than the middle. The first is essentially a coming of age story, where Telemachus has to learn what happened to his father to move on and grow up. The last part talks a lot about revenge and justice. Odysseus has to remove the men from his household and reassert himself after being gone from home for over 20 years.

As I near the end, I just have to keep asking myself, why is it that the middle section is more well-known than the other parts? Perhaps it’s the adventure feel of his journey that grabs more readers, but I just prefer the revenge of the end and the growth of the beginning. Maybe that means I am just a weirdo, or maybe the middle part is overrated and the other two parts are where the real story lies.

I’d like to think that I’m right.

Book 1: Favorite Passages.

My edition of The Odyssey is filled with purple marked passages from my college days. Sometimes I am reading along and all I can think it, “Why would I highlight THAT?” You can tell the spots where I went highlighter happy and thought that everything was important…or the parts where I was apparently bored with the story and pages and pages go by and there is no purple highlighter.

(On a side note, purple highlighter covers up text pretty well. There were parts that I had to hold my book up to my face so I could make out what was under the purple).

It has eventually dawned on me that I must have written a paper about Odysseus’ son Telemachus sometime in that class because as soon as his name appears it’s BAM! Purple highlighter!

There are also quite a few post-it notes in three different colors randomly throughout the book. At first I thought they might just be marking passages related to a paper, but instead they are separating the different “books” within the story. Convenient, but also obnoxious when you are digging through 24 post-its trying to find your book mark. I eventually had to find a bookmark with an obnoxious tassel so I could find it.

Anyway, I did end up marking some of my favorite lines. Mostly because I thought they were quite emotional, or an important part of the story. Your mileage may vary.

My most favorite was already posted, the whole opening section where the bard (if this was being recited orally as its supposed to me) calls to the Muses to inspire his words and the story. Here it is again:

“Sing to me man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy.
Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds,
many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea,
fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home.
But he could not save them from disaster, hard as he strove—
the recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all,
the blind fools, they devoured the cattle of the Sun
and the Sungod wiped from sight the day of their return.
Launch out on his story, Muse, daughter of Zeus,
start from where you will-Sing for our time too.”

Another one of my favorite passages is when Odysseus and his men blind the Cyclops, son of Poseidon (the sea god), which eventually leads to Odysseus' long journey home. That passage has a lot of great imagery and word choice and the scene really sucks you in. I should warn you, it’s a gory passage, which isn’t at all unusual for a Greek piece:

“Now, at last, I thrust our stake in a bed of embers
to get it red-hot and rallied all my comrades...

I dragged it from the flames, my men clustering round
As some god breathed enormous courage through us all.
Hoisting high that olive stake with its stabbing point,
straight into the monster’s eye they rammed it hard—
I drove my weight on it from above and bored it home
as a shipwright bores his beam with a shipwright’s drill
that men below, whipping the strap back and forth, whirl
and the drill keeps twisting faster, never stopping—
So we seized our stake with its fiery tip
and bored it round and round in the giant’s eye
till blood came boiling up around that smoking shaft
and the hot blast singed his brow and eyelids round the core
and the broiling eyeball burst—
its crackling roots blazed
and hissed—
as a blacksmith plunges a glowing ax of adze
in an ice-cold bath and the metal screeches steam
and its temper hardens—that’s the iron’s strength—
so the eye of the Cyclops sizzled round that stake!”

Another of my favorite scenes is when Odysseus finally comes clean to his son, Telemachus, about his identity. I love this only because it’s a rather climatic point:

“’No, I am not a god,’
the long-enduring, great Odysseus returned.
‘Why confuse me with one who never dies?
No, I am your father—
the Odysseus you wept for all your days,
you bore a world of pain, the cruel abuse of men.’”

I also love the fact that to show a passage of one day to the next, this line pops up nearly every time:

“When young Dawn with her rose-red fingers shone once more”

I just like the imagery of red fingers spreading across the sky. It’s one of those pieces of literary mastery that just sticks in your mind.

For those of you who have read The Odyssey before, do you have any favorite passages?

Book 1: The Art of Translation

There are many different editions of many of the classics; different translations, new covers, prestigious introductions by well-known scholars, new footnotes, etc. The edition I own and am reading from is the one by Robert Fagles, published in 1996. My dear tweed coated professor picked the edition, which has won many awards for its translation. To be honest, the only other translation I’ve read is the watered down version of The Odyssey I read in high school.

I love the edition I own. Fagles really brings the story to life and I am finding myself getting really into the story and the choice of words. It really gets you thinking about why that word was chosen instead of another, and I suppose translation is a difficult art because of that. For example, the Inuit have many, many different words for “snow” and each one means a different thing. With that many choices, how does a translator choose the correct term to portray the exact meaning that the original author intended?

With works like The Odyssey, the job is much more difficult. The Odyssey and The Iliad, attributed to have been written by the figure Homer, are oral histories and were never really written down by Homer himself (if he actually existed). Instead, they were stories passed down from bard to bard until eventually, someone wrote down their version. If you think of the game telephone you might have played in elementary school, you might see how the story might have been distorted from the original.

This is where the bards come in. Bards were once the most highly celebrated individuals in Greek society. They were responsible for remembering the past and passing it down, as well as entertaining. Even within The Odyssey the bards play a huge role. There is a scene I just finished reading where the bard Demodocus is called to entertain the crowd and Odysseus. He recalls the story of the Trojan Horse, which at this point in the story had happened more than ten years before. His goal as the bard is to be as close to the original details as possible. He succeeds by driving Odysseus to tears with the memory of what he had done in Troy.

I suppose all this is rambling is a long way of saying that Robert Fagles and the other translators are really doing the same job as the old Greek bards. They are trying to stay as close to the meaning and intent of the original as possible and still capturing readers with great stories.

I’ve also been thinking about how authors translate the stories in their heads to paper and whether the result is the story they envisioned. From my own experience writing, I seem to have a hard time getting the rights words down to really get at what I am feeling. It must be the same for song-writers and for directors. How can you truly portray everything you feel and everything you see? It is a difficult task. I can’t help but admire people who are successful in accomplishing that. And I can’t help but love the end result of their hard work.

They did the work so I didn’t have to. I can just sit back and enjoy.

Book 1: The Oral Tradition

Unfortunately I haven’t gotten through as much reading in the last two days as I would like, but I did manage to finish the first book of The Odyssey today. I flipped through the notes in the edition I own (I have the one translated by Robert Fagles) to refresh my memory.

I think most people who read The Odyssey in high school read a similar version to the one I first read. If you can remember back, its usually an abridged version that focuses solely on Odysseus and his journey back from Troy. It touches on the situation back home in Ithaca and of his son, Telemachus and his wife, Penelope.

That first time I read it, it was simply uninteresting. Yes, the Greek mythology parts of it were interesting, but I didn’t really get into the story. All I could see, as a ninth grader, was that this man was trying to get home and couldn’t.

When I was a freshman in college, I had to take the standard starting English class for all English majors. The first day of class, the professor handed us our syllabus. A few of my friends in the English program had taken the same class in the fall semester and they read some really interesting things. But to my surprise we only had two books to buy for the class: The Odyssey and The Norton Anthology of Classical Literature. So basically we were reading about dead Greeks. I was not so excited.

I was also not excited about my professor. He was probably in his fifties and wore some form of tweed every day. In fact, I think he had about 10 tweed pieces that he rotated so it always looked like he had something different on, but it was just matched differently. He also wore this hat every day that he seemed to set on his head at a jaunty angle. I was positive he wore it solely to look dashing.

He had the class set up so that every Monday we had to write an essay in a blue book, then on Wednesday we had to read them to the class if ours was “chosen.” It was a ridiculous set-up and week after week as my essay was not chosen, I had to listen to some of the most pompous essays ever written.

In addition to all of that, this professor had an irritating way of talking. Besides talking about the things he had accomplished and who he was related to, he had this habit of sucking air in through the corners of his mouth while his lips were pressed close in the middle. It was like he was trying to suck air in but the air was getting stuck on the spit in his cheeks, which rattled and sounded like a noise you shouldn’t make in public.

It was incredibly irritating. Especially when he did it at the end of every sentence.

But, even though I didn’t love the class, I did love the reading. This professor had a way of making it come alive. The first day we read The Odyssey we spent the entire two hour class talking about the opening passage, which I have typed and included here.

“Sing to me man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy.
Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds,
many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea,
fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home.
But he could not save them from disaster, hard as he strove—
the recklessness of their own ways destroyed them all,
the blind fools, they devoured the cattle of the Sun
and the Sungod wiped from sight the day of their return.
Launch out on his story, Muse, daughter of Zeus,
start from where you will-Sing for our time too.”

When you read it in your head, its hard to see the passion and power of these lines. So my professor made us all stand up (the 15 of us still left in the class at this point-the others got out alive) and we recited it in loud voices until he was satisfied we had captured the strength of Homer’s words.

When I went to start it, I had a hard time getting into it. Then I realized that perhaps I needed to remember that lesson, when my tweed coated professor told us that to appreciate The Odyssey which is meant to be recited orally, you needed to give voice to the words and invoke the voices of the muses.

So while I didn’t stand up and proclaim in a loud voice, I stopped and started over, channeling passion into the words in my head. And what do you know, the story came alive. Telemachus and his problems with his mother suitors emerged and Athena’s involvement in getting Telemachus to realize his role as a man seemed clear.

It’s amazing. Whenever I talk about professors I didn’t like, my little tweed fellow was always one that topped the list. But as I finished the first book of The Odyssey I had a shattering revelation.

That crazy man actually taught me something.

Choosing the First Book.

For my first book, I wanted to read something that was significant. With the reading of this first book I am stepping off into taking this challenge from an idea into reality. I wanted something strong and powerful to spur me on.

All of these thoughts led me to also thinking about the title of my blog. After all, I think that titles tell more of the story than many people believe. When I realized that making this list and reading through it was more of a journey than anything, the title of the blog clicked to mind: A Literary Odyssey.

And of course, The Odyssey by Homer is on that list. What better way to start my journey through the classics than to read one of the greatest journeys committed to paper?

Odysseus has been away from home fighting the Trojan War for ten years when he begins his journey home to Ithaca and the wife and son he left there. Along the way he is delayed by monsters, witches, Poseidon, and many others. His ten year journey home tests his determination and his moral compass.

I am sure that through reading this list I will also be tested; by life, by frustration, and by the absolute “bigness” of what I am trying to accomplish. So perhaps by reading through the journey of Odysseus first, I can gear myself up for opening each of the 250 books I have chosen.

So tonight, September 1, 2009 I am starting my own journey by opening book 1 of 250, The Odyssey.