The Odyssey, by Homer | Books 7-12

In which I talk about The Odyssey, by Homer as a part of my read along with @saintdonoghue

[HelenUtzinge]

This discussion of lying reminds me of a fav quote from David Hume: “Poets themselves, ‘tho liars by profession, always endeavor to give an air of truth to their fictions” I don’t know in this case who is doing the lying if it is lying, Homer or Odysseus? Interesting discussion here and enjoying this read-along.

[halllar]

I am loving this so far. I must admit though that I really could have had a lot more of the stories in chapters 7 through 12. Each adventure could have been a book on its own I feel. The fast movement of the story is more conducive to a tale told by mouth so it does make sense that it doesn't spend to much time on the details that would have mucked up the tale I guess.

[gaildoughty]

Great discussion. I can recommend The Penelopiad by Atwood; it supports your thoughts on Odysseus’s truthfulness, and gives some interesting possible scenarios for each adventure.

[Sam-gnmq]

I enjoyed this video very much. It never struck me that Odysseus would be lying about the stories of these chapters, but seeing how he doesn’t hesitate to create a fake character for himself later in the book it certainly seems plausible. Keep up the good work

[chrisday]

I'm very late to this, but just wanted to say thank you for this video - full of insight and interesting perspectives, and my favourite (so far!) of the readalong videos of yours that I've watched.

[JoelSwagman]

I enjoyed this video. I hadn't thought about Odysseus being an unreliable narrator, but you're right, it does clear up a lot of problems with the story.

[Bradford.C.Wallsbury]

When is the Aeneid read-along? I'll maybe try to find Dryden's translation and come along, I've only ever read the West translation

[BardSonic]

Check out the lecture on YouTube by George Steiner on the History of Literacy. Very interesting.

[chrisbeveridge]

You need to read this more carefully...Circe had been told in advance by Mercury that Odysseus would be stopping at her island on his way home from Troy which is why she identifies him...
it is the bard Demodocus who relates the story of the trojan horse ( NOT Ulysses himself )at the court of Alcinous( at Ulysses request) and after he does Ulysses "wept as a woman weeps " hardly the reaction of a liar..." if you were not there yourself you must have heard it all from someone who was" says Ulysses to Demodocus...remember this is 10 yr after the war is FINISHED...everybody knows what happened by this time...it's old news so to speak...

.... also research the wine of Maron of Ismarus, priest of apollo, without which he wouldn't have escaped the cyclopes...
good luck slow down... it's not how much you read but how much you digest that counts