Fictions of the Known World

The Phaiakians have always been among my favorite people in the Odyssey, and none more so than the young princess Nausikaa.  I like the Phaiakians because of their all-around weirdness (just listen to the names at VIII 118-26!), as well as the delicate balance between hospitality and menace that characterizes their society. After seven years on Kalypso’s island (and three more years of travel spent mostly amidst the company of mythical creatures), Odysseus has finally returned to human society – or has he?  As Poseidon’s favorite people, the Phaiakians clearly partake of the supernatural, and despite the great parties they throw, Telemakhos may have ultimate found himself more at home amidst the strained (but all too human) household of Helen and Menelaos.  One person who seems exempt from all the ambivalent traits of the Phaiakians, however, is Nausikaa, who seems to me to end up as an innocent victim of Odysseus’ relentless desire to return home.

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We ran out of time to finish our discussion of the role that physical space plays in the Odyssey, and so I would like to use my first blog post to talk a little bit about the ways in which I think this poem turns a collection of unconnected places into a coherent world.

Leaving aside minor variations in scenery, the first four books of the Odyssey take place in three different locations: the palaces of Odysseus, Nestor and Menelaos, located on Ithaca, at Pylos and at Sparta (we skipped the part about Nestor, but I’ll briefly talk about it anyway).  The first thing I find remarkable about this is that even though the journey from Ithaca to Sparta would have been an exceedingly dangerous and difficult one for the ancient Greeks, Homer literally spends less than a handful of lines to cover it (I count one line at the end of Book II and two lines at the beginning of Book IV).  Traveling is clearly not a big focus of the Odyssey, or at least not of the parts that we have read so far.  Where you arrive is what matters.  This seems strange to me, given that most of us are likely to think about this poem as principally a travel narrative.  And it makes me wonder about other similar narratives from world literature.  The story of Sindbad the Sailor, for instance, or the tale of the Argonauts.  Do ships matter much there?

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Here are some more study questions for the next three books of the Odyssey.  I will put up a longer blog post that might serve as a model for your own contributions over the weekend.

Please also remember that the “comments” function is now enabled for every post. If you want to respond to any of the questions that I put up, or if you want to add questions or ideas of your own, go right ahead – somebody has to be the first! Ideally, this blog will become a natural extension of our in-class conversations.

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For Thursday, you will read the first two books of Homer’s Odyssey.  As you do so, you should keep in mind that the division into books is a modern convention; the ancient Greek text had no subdivisions.  The illustrative titles, in turn, were added by our translator, Robert Fitzgerald.  Nevertheless, you will discover that Homer’s action moves through clearly discernible stages, and that there is a unifying theme to individual sections.

First, some notes about how to do college-level reading in general.  When approaching literary texts, you should ideally read everything twice – the first time to get the plot, the second time so you can fully concentrate on how details interact to create a complex narrative tapestry.  Realistically, however, you may not always have the time for this.  As a substitute, you should at least try to break longer reading assignments into manageable bits, so that your mind stays fresh, and you should always carry a pencil so you can take notes.

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I enjoyed meeting you all today and hope you look forward to getting started on the Odyssey!  Below is some background information that should be especially useful to those of you who have never read the poem, but will hopefully also contain some news to those who have.  The comment function has been enabled, so if you have questions or concerns, type away!

Although the Odyssey is a self-contained epic poem, it is also part of a larger tapestry of stories that in ancient times would have been familiar even to small children.  The subject of these stories is the Trojan War, a mythical conflict that took place in an age of legends.  The Greeks firmly believed that in former times, men had been far more powerful than they are today, and that gods had mingled amongst mortals, choosing their favorites and guiding their destinies.

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