Description

The epic that inspired the road trip genre, the Odyssey is often remembered as the story of a man who took ten years to return home to his wife, fighting off sirens, nymphs, and his and his companions’ bad decisions along the way. But beneath the vice and folly lies an exploration of the nature of storytelling, the limits of perseverance, the contours of faith, the inscrutability of death, and a quest to define and safeguard home.

Like the Iliad, the Odyssey is a paradox: a text of a poem composed orally in performance, an end product of a centuries-old tradition and the beginning of a new kind of storytelling. Reading two books per week (Anthony Verity’s translation recommended), we will explore the poem’s meanings and messages within a Homeric context and their appeal across time.

This ten-week course is conducted via Zoom. Classes will meet for 90 minutes each week on on Mondays at 19:30 (GMT/UK local time) on 15th January, 22nd January, 29th January, 5th February, 12th February, 19th February, 26th February, 4th March, 11th March and 18th March 2024.

Tutor: Dr Eirene Allen.