The Homeric Epics

[lunabee34]

The Odyssey by Homer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This translation is so readable. I really enjoyed it.

I don't like Odysseus much. He can't stop his warmongering even though the war is over. He cheats on his wife. He makes reckless decisions like taunting Polyphemus. Telemachus also gets on my nerves to some degree, especially the way he shows that he's now an adult by sassing his mother and putting her in her place.

That being said, I vastly prefer The Odyssey to the Iliad. The narrative is so much larger, the story so much bigger, the cast of characters more diverse and interesting.

This was a good read.




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So now I want somebody to write me the story of what happens to Briseis after The Iliad, and I want somebody to write me the story of what happens to Helen after The Iliad, and I want somebody to write me the story of what Penelope and Odysseus's relationship is really like after he returns. I want Briseis to have a happy ending. Maybe she ends up being owned by the same person who enslaves Andromache, and they become friends, and when Andromache is freed (per The Aeneid), Briseis comes along with her and is also freed. Or maybe Briseis ends up married to Neoptolemus or another Myrmidon and gains some power and control that way. IDK We get this tantalizing glimpse of Helen and Menelaus in The Odyssey, and they seem totally fine with each other, totally cool, and I really want to know if that's true or just a front. Regardless of whether Menelaus is copacetic, what do the Spartans think of her? Do they resent her? Does she just dose everybody with that drug so that no one is angry with her? Gotta say, I love the idea that Helen is just routinely dosing the water supply with drugs that make everyone forget they're pissed about the Trojan War. And finally, Odysseus cannot get out of battle mode; I really like the way Miller's Circe puts that aspect of his characterization at the forefront. I have a hard time believing he's going to seamlessly transition from the last twenty years of his life to king of peaceful Ithaca. What do y'all think?

Comments

[lyr]

Have you read Euripides' Helen? It's about Helen and Menelaus after Troy, and it's beautiful. Euripides imagines that Aphrodite couldn't actually make Helen love Paris, so she made a mindless copy and stashed the real Helen elsewhere. The real Helen has been off having adventures in Egypt while trying to get home. This is typical of why I adore Euripides so much; he essentially writes excellent fanfic about the overlooked female characters. His Iphigenia in Tauris, about a post-Illiad Iphigenia who survived and is royally pissed off, is a lovely example of this, too.

[conuly]

I had no idea and now I need to read me some Euripides.

[lunabee34]

INORITE?

[lunabee34]

No, no I have not. But it sounds awesome, and I am adding it to the list right now. What a great idea for a story.