Mendelsohn, Daniel. An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic. New York: Knopf 2017. Print.
First Sentences:
One January evening a few years ago, just before the beginning of the spring term in which I was going to be teaching an undergraduate seminar on the Odyssey, my father, a retired research scientist who was then aged eighty-one, asked me, for reasons I thought I understood at the time, if he might sit in on the course, and I said yes.
Description:
When his 81-year-old father asks if he can sit in on his freshman seminar at Bard College on the Odyssey, Daniel Mendelsohn agrees. The resulting experiences from this intimate class and father-son interactions are the basis for an surprisingly compelling book, An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic.
The second interwoven narrative gives background of the early home life of the Mendelsohn father and son including the prickly history between the two that crops up in the author's mind during comments made by Mendelsohn's father. Their relationship was challenging to say the least, with the precise mathematician father distancing himself from his gay son and setting high standards for behavior,
Finally, after the seminar concludes, father and son embark on a cruise that follows Odysseus' voyages through the Mediterranean. After such a testy seminar experience, how will these two survive living together on a boat for several weeks?
And surely, these two men along with Odysses, embark on life-changing odysseys. The Odyssey we learn is about Odysseus' son Telemachus' journey to find and understand his father, Odysseus, just as Mendelsohn begins to discover and understand his own father.
One January evening a few years ago, just before the beginning of the spring term in which I was going to be teaching an undergraduate seminar on the Odyssey, my father, a retired research scientist who was then aged eighty-one, asked me, for reasons I thought I understood at the time, if he might sit in on the course, and I said yes.
Description:
When his 81-year-old father asks if he can sit in on his freshman seminar at Bard College on the Odyssey, Daniel Mendelsohn agrees. The resulting experiences from this intimate class and father-son interactions are the basis for an surprisingly compelling book, An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic.
What...could studying the ancient classics possibly teach students in the present day? ... Human nature..."[P]hilology,' from the Greek for "love of language" -- was nothing less than a means to a profound understanding of the "intellectual, sensual, and moral powers of man."There are actually three plot lines to this book, each equally thought-provoking. First there is the class and its discussion of the epic poem, the Odyssey by Homer (or by several authors over the centuries who compile separate stories into one work). The seminar provides an in-depth analysis of the adventure poem with fascinating background of the Trojan War and its principle characters. There are translations and definitions of significant Greek text to fully understand the interesting implications of specific phrases.
The one word in the English language that combines all of the various resonances that belong severally to "voyage" and "journey" and "travel" -- the distance but also the time, the time but also the emotion, the arduousness and the danger -- comes not from Latin but from Greek. That word is "odyssey."During classroom discussions, Mendelsohn's father doesn't just sit quietly in a corner listening as Mendelsohn anticipated. Instead, he interjects his crusty opinions that often challenge or even contradict his son's direction in the seminar, with freshmen joining in with their opinions.
The second interwoven narrative gives background of the early home life of the Mendelsohn father and son including the prickly history between the two that crops up in the author's mind during comments made by Mendelsohn's father. Their relationship was challenging to say the least, with the precise mathematician father distancing himself from his gay son and setting high standards for behavior,
Finally, after the seminar concludes, father and son embark on a cruise that follows Odysseus' voyages through the Mediterranean. After such a testy seminar experience, how will these two survive living together on a boat for several weeks?
Now that I am old...I guess I can see the part about the importance of being out there and trying things even if you fail. You have to keep moving, at least. The worst thing is to go stale. Once that happens, you're finished.I knew very little about the Odyssey before reading An Odyssey, so would have been satisfied with just the explanation and discussion of the poem. But having the other two tracts of an Odyssey made this a much rich experience for me. As father and son's characters slowly reveal themselves, grow and falter, they take on the importance and adventure of Odysseus himself.
And surely, these two men along with Odysses, embark on life-changing odysseys. The Odyssey we learn is about Odysseus' son Telemachus' journey to find and understand his father, Odysseus, just as Mendelsohn begins to discover and understand his own father.
I was realizing for the first time, how much the Odyssey knew about this ostensibly trivial but profound real-life phenomenon, the way that small things between people can be the foundation of the greatest intimacy...When you have those things, those things that couple have, they keep you connected long after everything else becomes unrecognizable.A great read, one I really enjoyed thoroughly, definitely worth your time on so many levels.
New, lean, fast-paced translation of the epic poem
No comments:
Post a Comment
Add a comment or book recommendation.