{"id":55,"date":"2012-08-29T11:43:23","date_gmt":"2012-08-29T11:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/knownworld\/?p=55"},"modified":"2012-08-29T11:44:12","modified_gmt":"2012-08-29T11:44:12","slug":"odysseus-at-the-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/knownworld\/2012\/08\/29\/odysseus-at-the-beach\/","title":{"rendered":"Odysseus’ Dirty Linen"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Phaiakians have always been among my favorite people in the Odyssey<\/em>, and none more so than the young princess Nausikaa.\u00a0 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\u2019s island (and three more years of travel spent mostly amidst the company of mythical creatures), Odysseus has finally returned to human society \u2013 or has he? \u00a0As Poseidon\u2019s 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.\u00a0 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\u2019 relentless desire to return home.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We first encounter Nausikaa in what is surely a strange setting for an epic poem: it\u2019s laundry day on Phaiakia!\u00a0 I don\u2019t know enough about ancient Greek home economics (fun fact for the business majors amongst you: the English word \u201ceconomics\u201d derives from Greek oikos<\/em>, or \u201chousehold\u201d) to judge whether it would be unusual for a princess to join her maids as they go do the wash\u00a0 But I doubt it. As you\u2019ve probably figures out by now, Greek aristocrats were basically chieftains or warlords, their palaces simply bigger versions of regular farmhouses.\u00a0 So it would make sense that Nausikaa would have to do her share of the work, especially since in Greek society, women (even royal women) had a very low standing in general.\u00a0 Still, why don\u2019t the Phaiakians have a nifty magical gadget for this?<\/p>\n

At any rate, Nausikaa has a good reason to be diligent with her laundry, for, as Athena tells her rather bluntly: \u201cMaidenhood must end!\u201d (VI, 38).\u00a0 She\u2019s looking for a husband in other words, or at least potential husbands are looking for her, since so far she hasn\u2019t shown any inclination to follow up on their proposals (VI, 39-40).\u00a0 This is the situation in which she stumbles upon Odysseus who, being one of the greatest of heros, probably looks more attractive than your average Phaiakian even when he is covered in sea foam.\u00a0 Odysseus is a man who, whenever he has to choose between physical action (embracing her knees and kissing her garment) and mere words inevitable chooses words.\u00a0 But I think it\u2019s also worth commenting upon that \u201cHomer\u201d provides us with enough insight into Nausikaa\u2019s psychology to understand why this might be the right course of action: the princess has already had lots of men impose upon her, and I think Athena\u2019s words and her father\u2019s behavior both imply that there\u2019s a certain amount of pressure upon her.\u00a0 Odysseus, however, stands back: he lets her be herself and make her own decision.<\/p>\n

I like this initial scene so much that I think it\u2019s kind of sad Nausikaa plays such a subordinate role in the next two books, the ones we will read for Thursday.\u00a0 Still, there\u2019s a noteworthy exchange between Alkinoos, her father, and Odysseus at the end of Book VII, when Alkinoos somewhat outrageously offers to give her away to a castaway whom he has first met only half an hour earlier: \u201cmy daughter should be yours and you my son-in-law, if you remained\u201d (VII, 336-37).\u00a0 Ever resourceful, however, Odysseus has already foreseen this marriage offer, and cleverly dispelled it several lines earlier: \u201cI prayed her to assist me, and her good sense was perfect; one could hope for no behavior like it from the young, thoughtless as they most often are\u201d (VII, 314-16).\u00a0 With these words, he is not only flattering Antinoos, but also aligning himself with him \u2013 not just as a man, but more importantly as a member of an older generation who can only smile at kids these days.\u00a0 The ruse apparently works, for when we next see Nausikaa, she\u2019s already resigned to be abandoned: \u201cFarewell, stranger; in your land remember me who met and saved you.\u00a0 It is worth your thought\u201d (VIII, 492-93).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s surely worth a few thoughts of ours as well.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t talked about women in the Odyssey<\/em> much, and it\u2019s time that we did so.\u00a0 And what about the people whom Odysseus leaves behind him on his travels?\u00a0 Returning home is clearly a noble goal, but is it worth the damage that our hero has to inflict to attain it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Phaiakians have always been among my favorite people in the Odyssey, and none more so than the young princess Nausikaa.\u00a0 I like the Phaiakians because of their all-around weirdness (just listen to the names at VIII 118-26!), as well … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-odyssey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/knownworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/knownworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/knownworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/knownworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/384"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/knownworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/knownworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/knownworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions\/60"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/knownworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/knownworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/knownworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}