Homeric Epics, The Odyssey, June 28, 2026, 5th of 8 Mtgs, Please read Bks 1-6

Session #5 of 8
Now our group moves to the first sequel in the western epic poetry tradition: The Odyssey.

From Troy to Ithaca: What to Expect in Homer's Odyssey
If the Iliad is a war poem — driven by Achilles' rage, massed armies, and the grief of collective catastrophe — the Odyssey is its near-opposite: a homecoming story powered by cunning, survival, and the longing for family.

The hero changes everything. Achilles burns with transparent, volcanic emotion; Odysseus thinks, disguises, and endures. Where the Iliad is linear and concentrated around Troy, the Odyssey is episodic and wide-ranging — Cyclopes, enchantresses, the land of the dead — and more varied in tone, accommodating folktale, comedy, and domestic warmth alongside genuine danger.

The gods shift dramatically between the two poems. In the Iliad, the Olympians are boisterous and intensely present — taking wounds, quarreling, fighting alongside mortals on the battlefield. In the Odyssey, they pull back into something more like a moral framework. Athena guides and protects Odysseus from behind a series of disguises, while Poseidon's wrath drives the entire plot. The divine feels less chaotic and more purposeful — concerned with justice and the proper restoration of order.

Women play a far larger role. Penelope matches her husband in intelligence and resolve, and figures like Circe, Calypso, and Nausicaa are among antiquity's most vivid female characters. The Iliad's world of women exists largely as what war destroys; the Odyssey makes the household itself the prize worth fighting for.

Most strikingly, the Odyssey quietly revises Iliadic values. When Odysseus visits the underworld, Achilles — who chose glory over long life — confesses he'd rather be a living slave than king among the dead.
Editions [available from your local library or online]:
Any English verse translation, but we recommend:

The Odyssey, Norton Critical Edition. Translated by Emily Wilson, W. W. Norton, 2020, ISBN: 9780393655063

Online via Zoom
RSVP for the link.

Schedule of Readings:
May 03, 2026 - Homer: The Iliad, Books 1-6
May 17, 2026 - Homer: The Iliad, Books 7-12
May 31, 2026 - Homer: The Iliad, Books 13-18
Jun 14, 2026 - Homer: The Iliad, Books 19-24
Jun 28, 2026 - Homer: The Odyssey, Books 1-6 [Topics]
July 12, 2026 - Homer: The Odyssey, Books 7-12
July 26, 2026 - Homer: The Odyssey, Books 13-18
Aug 09, 2026 - Homer: The Odyssey, Books 19-24

Summary of previous sessions:
Coming soon

For 2026 [subject to change]:
Homer: Iliad/Odyssey
Norton: Epic of Gilgamesh
Virgil: Georgics/Aeneid
Ovid: Metamorphosis /Erotic Poems
Eliot: Four Quartets