Sunday, 8 January 2012

The Odyssey



Attributed to: Homer
Written: unknown
Translator: Robert Fagles
Publisher: Penguin Books (1997 Edition)
Bought from: Book Depository


Introduction

The Odyssey is an epic poem that is likely to have had an oral tradition. Scholars believe the poem was first written in the 8th century BC. The Odyssey, along with The Iliad, are two of western literature’s oldest extant work. Both poems are traditionally attributed to the blind poet Homer. While Homer is regarded as ancient Greece’s greatest poet, no one knows for sure when he lived.

The oldest complete manuscript of The Odyssey dates back to around the 10th or 11th century and is kept in the Laurentian Library in Florence.

The poem chronicles the 10 years it took Odysseus took to travel from Troy to Ithaca after the end of the Trojan War. Today, the word “odyssey” means a long and eventful journey in English.


What is it about?

The poem begins in media res in Olympus. Poseidon is away and Odysseus’ champion Athena leads a discussion on the fate of Odysseus, stranded on Ogygia, island of the nymph Calypso, for seven years. We do not know why Poseidon, who sided with the Greeks during the Trojan War has turned against Odysseus, one of the Greek heroes and delayed his return to Ithaca. With Zeus’s approval, Athena goes to Ithaca in disguise where Odysseus’ wife Penelope and son Telemachus await Odysseus’ return from the Trojan War. They are plagued by 108 suitors who are wooing Penelope while bleeding dry Odysseus’ wealth.

Athena encourages Telemachus to go to Pylos and then Sparta, capital of Lacadaemon, where Nestor and Menelaus, respectively, recount what they know about the aftermath of the Trojan War. Menelaus tells Telemachus he has heard that Odysseus is a prisoner of Calypso.

Back in Olympus, Zeus instructs Hermes to go to Ogygia and order Calypso to release Odysseus. As Odysseus is leaving, Poseidon learns of his release and shipwrecks him. Odysseus finds himself in Phaecia (or Scheria). There, without revealing his identity, he is welcomed by Alcinous, king of Phaecia. During the course of a day of songs and contests, a singer recounts episodes from the Trojan War, including the famous wooden horse stratagem devised by Odysseus. Odysseus reveals his identity and tells of what has happened to him and his crew since they sailed home at the end of the Trojan War. Odysseus recounts his encounters with the lotus-eaters, the cyclops Polyphemus (Odysseus put out the cyclops’ one eye and earned the enmity of its father Poseidon), King Aeolian and his bag of wind, the giant cannibals Laestrygonians, the goddess Circe, the shades of the seer Tiresias and others in the underworld, the irresistible Sirens, the 6-headed monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis and finally the sacred cattle of Helios the sun god. He was the only survivor of and found himself on Calypso’s island after another shipwreck.

Alcious agrees to help Odysseus get back to Ithaca. On arrival in Ithaca, Athena disguises Odysseus as a beggar and he reveals his identity only to Telemachus, who also recently returned from his Lace. Together they slay every single suitor after an archery competition. Finally, Odysseus reveals his identity to Penelope.


What about the book?


This is a Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. It is a deckle edge book with beautiful wrap-around cover. Even better, the book comes with Homer’s The Iliad and Virgil’s The Aeneid (both also translated by Robert Fagles) in a gorgeous boxed set.

Robert Fagles’ verse translation is widely acclaimed. It has been said that his translation is not literal and he has taken certain liberties. Be that as it may, his language is easy to follow and the verse flows smoothly and dramatically. Bernard Knox provides the introduction and notes. The introduction is useful and not unduly academic. The notes are at the back of the book and generally adequate. It is a little annoying, however, that they are not referenced to the text in the poem itself.


Finally ...

Highly recommended.


Et cetera

I found the following connections with the work of Hayao Miyazaki:

1. Nausicaa, Alcinous’ daughter and the first person to encounter Odysseus when he washes ashore in Phaecia is the name of the lead character, also a young princess, in the manga NausicaƤ of the Valley of the Wind written and illustrated by Miyazaki (1982-1994) and animated movie of the same name written and directed by him (1984).

2. In the animated movie Spirited Away written and directed by him (2001), the lead character’s parents and others are transformed into pigs by a witch like what Circe did to some of Odysseus’ men.

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