STORY 0:00 – 1:33:40
Odysseus – after twenty years away – wakes up on the shores of his own dear Ithaka. Athena provides her boy with an intelligence briefing, a reconnoiter strategy, and, of course, a disguise. And then Odysseus launches into the most dangerous part of his homecoming journey yet: figuring a way to overcome 108 dangerous suitors, and one very circumspect wife. This episode includes a bittersweet of father-son reunion, a heartbreaking story of a faithful dog, and an episode-concluding cliff-hanger: “Does Penelope KNOW, or NOT KNOW, that that beggar in her hall, is actually her husband Odysseus?”.
POST-STORY COMMENTARY: THE EVOLUTION OF ODYSSEUS: FROM HOMER THROUGH THE 19TH CENTURY 1:33:40 – 2:28:44
This commentary offers a sampler of cultural “takes on Odysseus” over time. My objective is to illustrate how the character of “complicated Odysseus” has proven to be malleable clay: readily “re-molded” to the needs of different authors and their cultures. I begin with Homer’s positive “take”: that Odysseus is the wordsmith hero of “metis wisdom”. And then I explore what other authors and their cultures have chosen to make of the Odysseus character. Along the way I drop in on: Sophocles, Euripides, Virgil, Juvenal, Dante, and Tennyson.
RELATED IMAGES
I struggle to find details – title of work, name of artist, date – for some images. If you can help, please forward information to me. Thanks. Jeff
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- Athena transforms Odysseus into a Beggar
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- Telemachus Finding Ulysses, George Truffaut, 1880
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- Odysseus and Argos
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- Argos recognizes Odysseus
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- Argos Reunion
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- Beggar at the Banquet, by Michael Satlow,
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- Dante and VIrgil Descend through the levels of Hell
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- Dante and Virgil meet Ulysses in Hell
Hello Jeff,,
first – it is a really pleasure to follow your storytelling (and your post-story commentaries) !
second – I have to complain (?) about post-story-commentary number 12.
Why ? Here it is:
Everytime you avoid plotspoiling and keep the suspense, if O. will manage to come home and manage to keep his wife P.
But here ? Here in the post-story commentary you quote in lenght Dante and Tennyson and lay off to the audience, that obviously it is not a question IF O. regains his kingdom an wife, but only HOW, because Dante’s and Tennyson’s texts are based on the fact, that O. succeeds at the end and is bored by the result 🙁
Your teasing for episode 13 -“We will see, if Penepole will choose another suitor…” is rather of low value, based on the infomations, the listener got just minutes before.
But aside from this – listening to your podcasts is really fun.
And please excuse my bad English:
Hi Jorg: Thanks so much for the very kind words about Odyssey Podcast. And I apologize for my “plot spoiler slip-up” in Ep 12!
Have a wonderful day.
Jeff