Homer’s Odyssey: A Discussion Guide By David Bruce This is a royalty-free discussion guide. I will not make a dime from it. I recommend that you read the translations by Robert Fagles and by Ian Johnston. Ian Johnston of Malaspina University-College, Nanaimo, BC has an excellent translation available for a free download at http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/homer/odysseytofc.htm I also recommend Elizabeth Vandiver’s course on the Odyssey, which is available from the Teaching Company. SMASHWORDS EDITION Copyright 2013 by Bruce D. Bruce Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support. Note: The book titles are taken from Robert Fitzgerald’s translation of Virgil’s Aeneid and from Robert Fagles’ translation of Virgil’s Aeneid. Robert Fitzgerald’s book titles are listed first. Preface The purpose of this book is educational. I have read, studied and taught Homer’s Odyssey, and I wish to pass on what I have learned to other people who are interested in studying Homer’s Odyssey. In particular, I think that the readers of this introduction to Homer’s Odyssey will be bright high school seniors and college first-year students, as well as intelligent adults who simply wish to study the Odyssey despite not being literature majors. This book uses a question-and-answer format. It poses, then answers, relevant questions about Homer, background information, and the Odyssey. This book goes through the Odyssey book by book. I recommend that you read the relevant section of the Odyssey, then read my comments, then go back and re-read the relevant section of the Odyssey. However, do what works for you. Teachers may find this book useful as a discussion guide for the epic poem. Teachers can have students read books from the epic poem, then teachers can ask students selected questions from this discussion guide. It helps to know something about Homer’s Iliad, Virgil’s Aeneid, Greek and Roman mythology, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, but this background reading is not strictly necessary. You have to begin reading great literature somewhere, and Homer’s Odyssey is a good place to start. (Come on in! The water’s great! And later you can go and read the Iliad, the Aeneid, The Divine Comedy, etc.) This book uses many short quotations from Robert Fagles’ translation of the Odyssey. This use is consistent with fair use: § 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use Release date: 2004-04-30 Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include — (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors. Source of Fair Use information: <http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107>. This is Ian Johnston’s copyright notice for his translation of Homer’s Odyssey: Copyright Notice for Documents on the johnstonia Web Pages All e-texts on johnstonia web pages are available for personal use by anyone, without permission and without charge. They may be downloaded, printed, and distributed freely, in whole or in part, provided the source is acknowledged. Teachers who wish to prepare copies of a text for their students are free to do so, provided the source is acknowledged. Performing artists can use the material free of charge for dramatic productions, public readings, and adaptations, provided the source is acknowledged and provided they inform Ian Johnston of the event. Commercial publication of any of the material in book form is prohibited, without the written permission of the author or translator. See <https://records.viu.ca/~Johnstoi/index.htm> for Ian Johnson’s Johnstonia. Note: Each book has two titles. The first title is from Robert Fagles’ translation; the second title is from Ian Johnston’s translation. An Anecdote Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, is a wonderful storyteller — not just when he writes his novels, but also when he tells out loud the stories of classic literature. For example, when he and his family were on vacation, Tom, his young son, found it difficult to stay still while they waited for their food in a restaurant. Therefore, Mr. Pullman started telling him the story of Odysseus, hero of Homer’s Odyssey, who spent 10 years at Troy in the Trojan War, and who spent another 10 years returning back home to his home island, Ithaca. Although Odysseus was the King of Ithaca, he returned home without any of his men or ships. Ever cautious, he disguised himself as a beggar, and then he set out to see if he had any friends left on the island. He found that a gang of young men who thought he was dead had overtaken his palace. They wanted to kill his son and to force his wife, Penelope, to choose one of them to marry. Eventually, Mr. Pullman reached the point in the story where Odysseus gets his great bow in his hands and strings the bow. After stringing the bow, he plucks the string on the bow just like a harp player plucks a string on a harp. Immediately, the suitors besieging Penelope feel dread because they know that Odysseus is going to try to kill all of them. At this point, Tom, who was holding a drink in his hands, was so excited that he bit a chunk out of his glass. Their waitress saw him do that, and she was so shocked that she dropped the tray with all their food on the floor. Mr. Pullman ends his story by writing, “And I sent up a silent prayer of thanks to Homer.” (Source: Margaret Speaker Yuan, Philip Pullman, pp. 53-54.) Introduction to Homer’s Odyssey Homer wrote (or perhaps created orally) two great epic poems. The first, the Iliad, tells the story of Achilles’ anger during the Trojan War. At first, Achilles is angry at Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek expedition against Troy. Later, Achilles is angry at Hector, who killed in battle Achilles’ best friend, Patroclus. At the end of the epic poem, Achilles is no longer angry. He is at peace with himself, and he is ready to die, as he knows he must. The Iliad tells only a small part of the story of the Trojan War. It does not tell the story of the Trojan Horse. A much later Roman epic poem, Virgil’s Aeneid, does tell the story of the Trojan Horse. The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus after the end of the Trojan War. Odysseus has spent 10 years at Troy going to war, and he takes 10 years, much of it spent as a captive, getting back to his home island of Ithaca. He has a number of adventures as he journeys back home, and when he arrives on Ithaca he has more adventures. His ships and men have been lost, and he arrives alone on Ithaca, although he does have the powerful protection of his patron goddess, Athena. Odysseus discovers that almost everyone thinks that he is dead, and he discovers that suitors have taken over his house and are disrespecting his son, Telemachus, as they attempt to force his wife, Penelope, to marry one of them. With the aid of Athena, and with the considerable aid of his own wits, Odysseus is able to reestablish himself as the King of Ithaca. Pt. One: Mythological Background Important Terms: Iliad Odyssey Zeus Hera Athena Thetis Aphrodite Artemis Iphigeneia Agamemnon Menelaus Achilles Odysseus Hector Paris Judgment of Paris Aeneus Aeneid • Why is it necessary to know background information about the Trojan War when reading Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey? Homer is an epic poet who tells traditional stories that his audience is already very familiar with. Because of that, Homer does not need to explain who his characters are or even the major events of the Trojan War, such as how it started or how it will end. Homer is able to jump into the middle of the story in the Iliad and start telling about an incident that occurred during the final year of the Trojan War. Of course, Homer’s contemporary audience is very different from his audience of today. Homer created and performed his epic poems hundreds of years before Jesus of Nazareth was born. Homer came from an oral tradition, and he seems to have composed his poems either before writing was invented or perhaps when writing was coming into use. Possibly, he saw the advantages of writing, and he used the new technology of writing to create two very long, very complex poems, both of which I would personally put in a list of the top 10 books ever created.