Penelope's Loyalty and Patience by Sumana Gupta

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Penelope's Loyalty and Patience by Sumana Gupta Why Wait for Twenty Years? Penelope’s Loyalty and Patience By Sumana Gupta !1 Acknowledgements To Penelope, the character who deserved the world, but got Odysseus Thank you once again to Doctor Walsh for your endless guidance !2 Penelope’s Loyalty and Patience When considering the journey of the Odyssey, one would be remiss if they did not discuss the role of Penelope within the epic. Penelope is unique, for her stalwart loyalty to her husband was her defining characteristic, a coveted trait for women in antiquity. Why, however, is she mo- tivated to wait twenty years? Penelope’s motivations are intrinsically connected to her loyalty to Odysseus. Her loyalty is displayed by her capability to survive on her own in the absence of Odysseus, her complex motivations to protect Telemachus, and out of genuine love and loyalty to her husband. This paper will explore the possibility that Penelope benefits from waiting, and a part of her heroic arc is that she is able to remain loyal, not only for Odysseus and Telemachus but for the sake of her kleos. The word ‘heroic’ may seem out of place for Penelope, but the virtues that she exhibits throughout the Odyssey cast her in a similar light to Odysseus, where she is not his subordinate, but his equal, as we will demonstrate in Penelope’s analysis. Penelope in the Odyssey is a female character who was more than capable of surviving on her own. This is shown through a description of Penelope retrieving a key in 21.6: ‘She climbed the high stairway to her chamber, and took the bent key in her strong hand – a goodly key of bronze, and on it was a handle of ivory.’1 Homer often uses the phrase ‘strong hand’ to describe warriors, or scenes involving warfare, and Penelope’s description of having a ‘strong hand’ is the only instance that it is used to depict a mortal woman.2 Scholars have interpreted this unique description as Penelope unlocking a door like a Homeric warrior attacking an enemy.3 The key is her weapon, and in this metaphor, she has heroic virtues akin to her husband.4 Penelope further resembles Odysseus as the phrase that describes Penelope inserting the key is similar to an archer shooting a bow, foreshadowing the fruits of Penelope’s archery con- test: ‘hereon had he also fitted door-posts, and set on them bright doors—straightway she quickly loosed the thong from the handle and thrust in the key, and with sure aim shot back the bolts. And as a bull bellows when grazing in a meadow, even so bellowed the fair doors, smitten by the key…’5 1 Daniel Turkeltaub, "Penelope’s ‘Stout Hand’ and Odyssean Humour," The Journal of Hellenic Studies 134 (2014): 103; Penelope’s Fat Hand Reconsidered, 10, Homer describing Penelope as having a ‘strong hand’ is an anomaly among Homeric female descriptions 2 Duane W. Roller, Letitia K. Roller, “Penelope’s Thick Hand (“Odyssey” 21.6),” The Classical Journal 90, no. 1(1994): 11; Athanassios Vergados, "Penelope's Fat Hand Reconsidered (Odyssey 21, 6)," Wiener Studien 122 (2009): 13. 3 Turkeltaub, (2014): 109. 4 Turkeltaub, (2014): 109; Vergados (2009): 13. 5 Emily Katz Anhalt, "A Bull for Poseidon: The Bull"s Bellow in Odyssey 21.46–50," The Clas- sical Quarterly 47, no. 1 (1997): 18; Od. 21.42. !3 The bull simile described above is the next important indication of Penelope’s heroic virtue. Turkeltaub has interpreted this comparison to be a bull charging out of a locked room.6 The verb, ἀ$%&'()*, ‘clashed’, used in this simile often describes instances of warfare in Homeric litera- ture.7 Such instances include the clashing of armour, or a horse falling dead when it had been struck by a spear.8 Despite Penelope never involving herself in such a situation, the general fatal- ity that this simile communicates lends to the idea that Penelope herself is a bull.9 However, Turkeltaub emphasizes that this simile is a form of Odyssean humour that serves to elevate the mundane in supernatural situations.10 Descriptions of an ivory handle are mundane and superfi- cial embellishments that devalue the supernatural element in Penelope’s comparison to a bull.11 Unlike the river Scamander which roars ‘like a bull’12, Penelope expresses no such reaction, and thus reduces her comparison to a bull as one that does not display any glorious power, but one that simply grazes.13 A peaceful perception of Penelope matches how Odyssean humour is meant to elevate the mundane in any situation. The idea of Penelope being peaceful, but still a powerful entity in her own right reinforces the idea of Penelope exhibiting power in the domestic sphere, as it is where the contemporary gender-roles are prescribed that she exercised her power. This pronounces her as a model female character and emphasizes her capability as a wife without Odysseus. Even though the previous point was focused on a comparison of Penelope to a peaceful bull, we should not only understand her power as being isolated to the domestic sphere, for Homer does not restrict her to this, as can be seen through his comparison of Penelope to a lion, and the suitors to a bull. When she is with the suitors, she is as a lion being encircled by her en- emies: ‘And even as a lion is seized with fear and broods amid a throng of men, when they draw their crafty ring about him, so was she pondering when sweet sleep came upon her.’14 The sub- dued and fearful nature of the lion shows the power of Penelope’s enemies, while also showing 6 Turkeltaub, (2014): 109; Vergados, (2009): 15. 7 Anhalt, (1997): 17; Vergados, (2009): 15; Od. 21.48. 8 Anhalt, (1997): 17. 9 Turkeltaub, (2014): 110. 10 Turkeltaub, (2014): 104. 11 Turkeltaub, (2014): 109 ! look at footnote 50 12 Il. 21.237. 13 Turkeltaub, (2014): 110. 14 Od. 4.787-94. !4 her own inherent power.15 Even a predator as fierce as the lion can feel closed in, and the suitors surrounding Penelope while she weaves perfectly illustrates this comparison. If Penelope is the predator, the fierce lion, then the suitors represent the prey, a bull about to be consumed by the lion. The sound of the doors creaking open resembles the roar of a bull: ‘as a bull bellows when grazing in a meadow, even so bellowed the fair doors.’16 The roar of the bull is the cry and protest of the suitors that are resisting their impending fate, being that of bulls killed by the lion for encroaching on its territory.17 Even though the Odyssey refers to Odysseus as the lion, it is Penelope’s equality to Odysseus that allows for the perception that she could be one as well.18 Through the use of the animal simile and language relating to a warfare setting, it is demonstrat- ed that Penelope was capable of surviving in the absence of her husband. Penelope’s capability of survival is further seen through her most commendable skill: weaving. Weaving was a coveted skill in the domestic sphere, a skill that Penelope aptly wields. There are many theories as to what weaving means to Penelope, but I contend that she utilizes it as an metaphorical weapon to defend the household and furthermore the kingdom of Ithaca.19 Penelope tricks the suitors by telling them that she will decide which one to marry once she fin- ishes weaving a funeral shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes.20 The trick in delaying the suitors is how she unravels the shroud each night, allowing her to never complete the shroud and never having to marry any of the suitors.21 Penelope weaving and unweaving a shroud for her father in law is symbolic of her commitment to Odysseus, as each day and night when she weaves and 15 Michelle M. Kundmueller, "On the Importance of Penelope," Polity 50, no. 1 (2018): 51; Heitman interprets that that Homer is describing her power to be a protective nature over Telemachus (36). Richard Heitman, Taking her seriously: Penelope & the plot of Homer's Odyssey, (University of Michigan Press, 2005), 36. 16 Od. 21.42. 17 Anhalt, (1997): 19. 18 Anhalt, (1997): 19. 19 Kundmueller, (2018): 45; Maria C. Pantelia, "Spinning and Weaving: Ideas of Domestic Order in Homer," The American Journal of Philology 114, no. 4 (1993): 497; Mueller (2007) 348-9 theorizes that weaving is a ‘physical expression of remembering’, where the physical act of weaving enables her to keep Odysseus’ memory alive. This is another form where Penelope’s weapon of weaving is manifested, as her weaving while she thinks of Odysseus’ presence is a constant reminder to hold on to hope that her husband will return. 20 Od. 2.99-2.103. 21 Od. 19.137. !5 unravels, she is burying but then reviving her commitment to him.22 The weaving is what allows her to remain loyal to Odysseus despite the pressure to remarry from the suitors.23 This, however, brings forth the question of why she entertains the possibility of marrying the suitors in the first place. Her simultaneous encouragement and denial of the suitors is her cunning trick, and just one in the many ways that illustrate how she is a match to Odysseus.24 Penelope’s loyalty to Odysseus is unquestionable, but everyone else believed him to be dead, rendering her public commitment to Odysseus null, and increasing the social pressure for her to remarry with each year that Odysseus does not return.25 Thus, Penelope needed to entertain the suitors to protect Odysseus and his interests.
Recommended publications
  • Sophocles, Ajax, Lines 1-171
    SophoclesFourTrag-00Bk Page 2 Thursday, July 26, 2007 3:56 PM Ajax: Cast of Characters ATHENA goddess of wisdom, craft, and strategy ODYSSEUS a Greek commander from Ithaca AJAX the son of Telamon and a Greek commander from Salamis CHORUS of Salaminian warriors TECMESSA a Phrygian captive, wife of Ajax MESSENGER from the Greek camp, loyal to Teucer TEUCER the half-brother of Ajax, son of Telamon and Hesione, a Trojan MENELAUS the youngest son of Atreus and a Greek commander from Sparta AGAMEMNON the eldest son of Atreus from Mycenae and the supreme commander of the Greeks at Troy Nonspeaking Roles EURYSACES the young son of Ajax and Tecmessa ATTENDANTS Casting In the original production at the Theatre of Dionysus, the division of roles between the three speaking actors may have been as follows: 1. Ajax, Agamemnon 2. Athena, Messenger, Teucer 3. Tecmessa, Menelaus, Odysseus After line 1168, a nonspeaking actor played the role of Tecmessa. This translation is based on a version developed by Peter Meineck for the Aquila Theatre Company in 1993 for a U.S. tour. The original cast included Donald T. Allen, Tony Longhurst, James Moriarty, Yasmin Sidhwa, and Andrew Tansey. Division of roles: The parts can also be divided as follows: (1) Ajax, Teucer; (2) Odysseus, Tecmessa; (3) Athena, Messenger, Menelaus, Agamemnon. 2 SophoclesFourTrag-00Bk Page 3 Thursday, July 26, 2007 3:56 PM Ajax SCENE: Night. The Greek camp at Troy. It is the ninth year of the Trojan War, after the death of Achilles. Odysseus is following tracks that lead him outside the tent of Ajax.
    [Show full text]
  • From the Odyssey, Part 1: the Adventures of Odysseus
    from The Odyssey, Part 1: The Adventures of Odysseus Homer, translated by Robert Fitzgerald ANCHOR TEXT | EPIC POEM Archivart/Alamy Stock Photo Archivart/Alamy This version of the selection alternates original text The poet, Homer, begins his epic by asking a Muse1 to help him tell the story of with summarized passages. Odysseus. Odysseus, Homer says, is famous for fighting in the Trojan War and for Dotted lines appear next to surviving a difficult journey home from Troy.2 Odysseus saw many places and met many the summarized passages. people in his travels. He tried to return his shipmates safely to their families, but they 3 made the mistake of killing the cattle of Helios, for which they paid with their lives. NOTES Homer once again asks the Muse to help him tell the tale. The next section of the poem takes place 10 years after the Trojan War. Odysseus arrives in an island kingdom called Phaeacia, which is ruled by Alcinous. Alcinous asks Odysseus to tell him the story of his travels. I am Laertes’4 son, Odysseus. Men hold me formidable for guile5 in peace and war: this fame has gone abroad to the sky’s rim. My home is on the peaked sea-mark of Ithaca6 under Mount Neion’s wind-blown robe of leaves, in sight of other islands—Dulichium, Same, wooded Zacynthus—Ithaca being most lofty in that coastal sea, and northwest, while the rest lie east and south. A rocky isle, but good for a boy’s training; I shall not see on earth a place more dear, though I have been detained long by Calypso,7 loveliest among goddesses, who held me in her smooth caves to be her heart’s delight, as Circe of Aeaea,8 the enchantress, desired me, and detained me in her hall.
    [Show full text]
  • Homer's Odyssey and the Image of Penelope in Renaissance Art Giancarlo FIORENZA
    223 Homer's Odyssey and the Image of Penelope in Renaissance Art Giancarlo FIORENZA The epic heroine Penelope captured the Renaissance literary and artistic imagination, beginning with Petrarch and the recovery of Homer's poetry through its translation into Latin. Only a very small number of humanists in the 14'h century were able to read Homer in the Greek original, and Petrarch's friend Leontius Pilatus produced for him long-awaited Latin translations of the Iliad 1 and Odyssey in the 1360s • Profoundly moved by his ability to finally compre­ hend the two epics (albeit in translation), Petrarch composed a remarkable letter addressed to Homer in which he compares himself to Penelope: "Your Penelope cannot have waited longer nor with more eager expectation for her Ulysses than I did for you. At last, though, my hope was fading gradually away. Except for a few of the opening lines of certain books, from which there seemed to flash upon me the face of a friend whom I had been longing to behold, a momen­ tary glimpse, dim through the distance, or, rather, the sight of his streaming hair, as he vanished from my view- except for this no hint of a Latin Homer had come to me, and I had no hope of being able ever to see you face to face"'. The themes of anticipation and fulfillment, and longing and return that are associated with the figure of Penelope coincide with the rediscovery of ancient texts. To encounter Homer for the first time in a language with which one was 3 familiar was as much a personal as a literary experience • As Nancy Struever observes, Petrarch's Le Familiari, a collection of letters addressed to contemporary friends and ancient authors, values friendship and intimate exchange because 4 it leads to knowledge and affective reward • Books on their own (Le Familiari, XII, 6) constituted surrogate friends with whom Petrarch could correspond, con­ verse, exchange ideas, and share his affections.
    [Show full text]
  • Odysseus and Feminine Mêtis in the Odyssey Grace Lafrentz
    Vanderbilt Undergraduate Research Journal, Vol. 11 Weaving a Way to Nostos: Odysseus and Feminine Mêtis in the Odyssey Grace LaFrentz Abstract. My paper examines the gendered nature of Odysseus’ mêtis, a Greek word describing characteristics of cleverness and intelligence, in Homer’s Odyssey. While Odysseus’ mêtis has been discussed in terms of his storytelling, disguise, and craftsmanship, I contend that in order to fully understand his cleverness, we must place Odysseus’ mêtis in conversation with the mêtis of the crafty women who populate the epic. I discuss weaving as a stereotypically feminine manifestation of mêtis, arguing that Odysseus’ reintegration into his home serves as a metaphorical form of weaving—one that he adapts from the clever women he encounters on his journey home from Troy. Athena serves as the starting point for my discussion of mêtis, and I then turn to Calypso and Circe—two crafty weavers who attempt to ensnare Odysseus on their islands. I also examine Helen, whom Odysseus himself does not meet, but whose weaving is importantly witnessed by Odysseus’ son Telemachus, who later draws upon the craft of weaving in his efforts to help Odysseus restore order in his home. The last woman I present is Penelope, whose clever and prolonged weaving scheme helps her evade marriage as she awaits Odysseus’ return, and whose lead Odysseus follows in his own prolonged reentry into his home. I finally demonstrate the way that Odysseus reintegrates himself into his household through a calculated and metaphorical act of weaving, arguing that it is Odysseus’ willingness to embrace a more feminine model of mêtis embodied by the women he encounters that sets him apart from his fellow male warriors and enables his successful homecoming.
    [Show full text]
  • The Odyssey Homer Translated Lv Robert Fitzç’Erald
    I The Odyssey Homer Translated lv Robert Fitzç’erald PART 1 FAR FROM HOME “I Am Odysseus” Odysseus is in the banquet hail of Alcinous (l-sin’o-s, King of Phaeacia (fë-a’sha), who helps him on his way after all his comrades have been killed and his last vessel de stroyed. Odysseus tells the story of his adventures thus far. ‘I am Laertes’ son, Odysseus. [aertes Ia Men hold me formidable for guile in peace and war: this fame has gone abroad to the sky’s rim. My home is on the peaked sea-mark of Ithaca 4 Ithaca ith’. k) ,in island oft under Mount Neion’s wind-blown robe of leaves, the west e ast it C reece. in sight of other islands—Dulichium, Same, wooded Zacynthus—Ithaca being most lofty in that coastal sea, and northwest, while the rest lie east and south. A rocky isle, but good for a boy’s training; I (I 488 An Epic Poem I shall not see on earth a place more dear, though I have been detained long by Calypso,’ 12. Calypso k1ip’sö). loveliest among goddesses, who held me in her smooth caves, to be her heart’s delight, as Circe of Aeaea, the enchantress, 15 15. Circe (sür’së) of Aeaea e’e-). desired me, and detained me in her hail. But in my heart I never gave consent. Where shall a man find sweetness to surpass his OWfl home and his parents? In far lands he shall not, though he find a house of gold.
    [Show full text]
  • Indo-European Linguistics: an Introduction Indo-European Linguistics an Introduction
    This page intentionally left blank Indo-European Linguistics The Indo-European language family comprises several hun- dred languages and dialects, including most of those spoken in Europe, and south, south-west and central Asia. Spoken by an estimated 3 billion people, it has the largest number of native speakers in the world today. This textbook provides an accessible introduction to the study of the Indo-European proto-language. It clearly sets out the methods for relating the languages to one another, presents an engaging discussion of the current debates and controversies concerning their clas- sification, and offers sample problems and suggestions for how to solve them. Complete with a comprehensive glossary, almost 100 tables in which language data and examples are clearly laid out, suggestions for further reading, discussion points and a range of exercises, this text will be an essential toolkit for all those studying historical linguistics, language typology and the Indo-European proto-language for the first time. james clackson is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, and is Fellow and Direc- tor of Studies, Jesus College, University of Cambridge. His previous books include The Linguistic Relationship between Armenian and Greek (1994) and Indo-European Word For- mation (co-edited with Birgit Anette Olson, 2004). CAMBRIDGE TEXTBOOKS IN LINGUISTICS General editors: p. austin, j. bresnan, b. comrie, s. crain, w. dressler, c. ewen, r. lass, d. lightfoot, k. rice, i. roberts, s. romaine, n. v. smith Indo-European Linguistics An Introduction In this series: j. allwood, l.-g. anderson and o.¨ dahl Logic in Linguistics d.
    [Show full text]
  • Summary Ng from the Homecomi Homer Od from the Not Recognize His Father
    Name Date from the ODYSSEY: PART 2 Summary THE HomecomiNG FROM THE ODYSSEY Homer Setting: Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, possibly around 1200 B.C. Book 16: Odysseus returns home dressed as a beggar. He meets Eumaeus, the faithful swineherd. Then he sees his son, Telemachus. Telemachus does not recognize his father. When Odysseus removes the disguise, Telemachus thinks he is a god. Finally, Telemachus recognizes his father. Father and son weep to be together again. Book 17: Odysseus returns to his palace still disguised as a beggar. Outside, he sees his dog, Argus, who has been treated badly while he was gone. Odysseus is angered by the dog’s poor condition. Book 21: Odysseus discovers that many suitors are at the palace. They want to marry Penelope. She has given up hope that Odysseus will return. She plans a contest. She will marry the winner. The men must string Odysseus’ bow. Then they must shoot an arrow through the holes in 12 ax heads. No one can string the bow. Still dressed as a beggar, Odysseus completes both tasks. Book 22: Odysseus takes off his disguise. He kills Antinous, the leader of the suitors. The remaining suitors decide they must fight with Odysseus. Telemachus and two servants join Odysseus in the fight. With the help of these men and Athena, Odysseus kills all the suitors. Book 23: Penelope is not sure the man is really Odysseus. She asks a servant to put his bed FROM outside his bedroom. Odysseus says that the bed cannot be moved. One of its posts is the from the trunk of an olive tree.
    [Show full text]
  • Reading Penelope and Molly: an Intertextual Analysis
    Reading Penelope and Molly: An Intertextual Analysis A thesis submitted to the Miami University Honors Program in partial fulfillment of the requirements for University Honors By Michelle L. Mitchell May 2004 Oxford, OH ii Abstract Reading Penelope and Molly: An Intertextual Analysis by Michelle L. Mitchell This thesis takes an intertextual approach to Homer’s Odyssey and James Joyce’s Ulysses. Intertextual analysis goes beyond examining the ways Joyce adopts Homer’s themes and characters in his own modern epic to also consider the ways in which a reading of Ulysses can affect one’s understanding of the Odyssey. Examining the reader’s role in the production and consumption of texts allows for a more realistic examination of how texts are actually processed. The focus of my interetextual analysis of both works is on the representation of women, particularly Penelope and Molly Bloom. iii iv An Intertextual Analysis of the Representations of Women in Homer’s Odyssey and Joyce’s Ulysses by Michelle L. Mitchell Approved by: _____________________________________, Advisor Judith de Luce _____________________________________, Reader Madelyn Detloff _____________________________________, Reader Kathleen Johnson Accepted by: _____________________________________, Director, University Honors Program v vi Acknowledgements Many thanks to my advisor, Judith de Luce, for her encouragement and guidance. Thanks also to Madelyn Detloff and Kathleen Johnson, my readers, for their suggestions. I would also like to thank the Office for the Advancement of
    [Show full text]
  • The Untold Death of Laertes. Revaluating Odysseus's Meeting
    The untold death of Laertes. Revaluating Odysseus’s meeting with his father Abstract This article discusses the narrative function and symbolism of the Laertes scene in the twenty- fourth book of the Odyssey. By pointing out the scene’s connections to other passages (the story of Penelope’s web, the first and second nekuia , the farewellto the Phaeaceans, the Argus scene, but also the twenty-fourth book of the Iliad) and by tackling some of the textualproblems that it poses (the apparent cruelty of Odysseus’s lies to his father, the double layers of meaning in his fictions, the significance of the sèma of the trees), this article aims to point out how the Laertes scene is tightly woven into the larger thematic and symbolicaltissue of the Odyssey. Odysseus’s reunion with his father is conclusive to the treatment of some important themes such as death and burial, reciprocalsense of love and duty and the succession of generations. It willbe argued that the untold death of Laertes becomes paradigmatic for the fate Odysseus himself chooses, and for the way in which the epic as a whole deals with the problem of mortality. Keywords Odyssey, Laertes, symbolism, mortality, burial, reciprocity Laertes, the old father of Odysseus, is a somewhat forgotten character. He is mostly considered to be of minor importance to the plot of the Odyssey, and his reunion with his son in the twenty-fourth book is often seen as a more or less dispensable addendum to the realclimax, the recognition scene with Penelope. In this article, I aim to readjust this view by exploring the context and significance of this final meeting.
    [Show full text]
  • Helen of Troy: She Was Not a Dumb Blonde
    HELEN OF TROY A HEROINE IN A MAN’S WORLD! Katerina Ladianou, Classics, OSU Helen is a beautiful woman, some say a Goddess, others say a whore because of her adulterous ways, and she is pursued relentlessly by suitors from all over the ancient world. Homer, Euripides, and Stesichorus all narrate her story, but Homer is the original source in his 2 epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The fairest woman in the world is Helen, the daughter of the King of Sparta Tyndareos and his wife Leda. Their other daughter Clytemnestra is married to Agamemnon. Such is the fame of the beauty of Helen that every young prince craves to marry her. Superhero Theseus abducts her first, but her brothers Castor and Pollux, [both Argonauts, who sailed to Colchis through the Hellespont with Jason on the Ship Argo to get the Golden Fleece], get her back home. So, when suitors from all over Greece assemble in Sparta to ask for her hand, her father Tyndareos, fearing another abduction makes them take an oath to defend whomever he chooses for her husband, and, moreover, that they collectively would punish anyone who tried to abduct Helen. Then Tyndareos chooses Menelaos and he makes him King of Sparta. In the meantime, Goddess Aphrodite sends an image of Helen to Paris of Troy who at the time is out in the fields shepherding his father’s goats; he falls madly in love with Helen, and the rest is history, for love is the strongest force in the whole world! In the Iliad, Paris, a prince of Troy, a city that has accumulated enormous wealth by controlling the flow of merchant shipping through the nearby Hellespont [in what is now NW Turkey; the Dardanelles], abducts Helen.
    [Show full text]
  • 23 Hero-Without-Nostos.Pdf
    1 23 Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer Science +Business Media Dordrecht. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be self- archived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your article, please use the accepted manuscript version for posting on your own website. You may further deposit the accepted manuscript version in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later and provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com”. 1 23 Author's personal copy Int class trad DOI 10.1007/s12138-014-0367-6 ARTICLE A Hero Without Nostos: Ulysses’ Last Voyage in Twentieth-Century Italy Francesca Schironi © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 Abstract The article reviews the reception of Ulysses’ last voyage in twentieth- century Italy. Ulysses’ last voyage is used by Italian authors to discuss different and often opposing views of the ideal human life as well as the intellectual and exis- tential angsts of the twentieth century. In addition, the Italian twentieth-century Ulysses becomes part of a metapoetic discourse, as going back to the Homeric and Dantesque myths of Ulysses for an artist also means interrogating oneself on the possibility of creating something new within a long tradition. This metaliterary dimension adds to the modern Italian reception of Ulysses, making it a unique case of the intersection of many different layers of reception both in chronological and thematic terms.
    [Show full text]
  • The Trojan War
    The Trojan War 11/21/2013 Dr.Montoneri 1 Outline • Introduction • Part I. Origin of the war • a. _________________________________ • b. _________________________________ • Part II. The destruction of Troy • a. _________________________________ • b. _________________________________ • Conclusion • References Where’s Troy? • Troy is _____ ________________ ________________ • Troy was also called Ilium, Ilion, and Ilios. • A well-walled city with broad streets and beautiful palaces…until the Trojan War. • Until the 19th century it was generally believed that the Trojan war and city of Troy were imaginary. • But, in 1871, a German archaeologist began excavating an ancient site on the west coast of Turkey. • He had identified Troy's location through _________ ___________________________________________. The Trojan War • The Trojan War actually occurred: The city of Troy _______________________________. • Archaeologists have found historical evidence of the war. • Was it exactly as told in The Iliad? – No. It was probably fought over______________ _________________________________________. – But Homer’s version (The Iliad) is more exciting! – Some of the characters may have been based on real personalities. Homer • Homer, name traditionally assigned to the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the two major epics of Greek antiquity • The poems were composed in the Greek settlements on the coast of Asia Minor in the 7th, 8th, or 9th century BC Part I. Origin of the War • _____________________, was not invited to a wedding banquet on ___________. • Into the banquet hall, Eris tossed a golden apple inscribed _________ • ____________________________ • Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite asked Zeus to decide who deserved the apple. • Zeus would not choose. (He’s no fool!) • Zeus says Paris is an excellent judge of beauty, and refers the goddesses to him.
    [Show full text]