The Odyssey: Violence, Return, and Guest-Friendship with Professor Michael Nagler
Prof. Emeritus Michael Nagler (UC Berkeley) taught Homer throughout his long career at UC Berkeley, and provides insights into the meaning behind Homer's poem, which has been revived in the popular imagination by Christopher Nolan's film. The first half is a lecture and the second half, about an hour in, includes Q and A with attendees. This seminar will inspire you in a deeper understanding of a proper reading of a good translation of the poem, such as that of Emily Wilson.
A follow-up note and resource from Prof. Nagler:
Dear friends,
As you may know I'm very hard to please with any retelling or reinterpretation of the poem that occupied much of my life back when I was teaching it -- the Odyssey. I really like Emily Wilson's translation, which has now sold over a million copies! (What about my article?!, haha). But even there I squirmed at some of her choices. Inevitable.
Yet I do recommend this discussion of the film, vs. the poem, by a Greek archaeologist.
While you're reading this, in case you weren't able to participate in our webinar on Sunday, let me share with you the latest 'aha' that struck me along the way. Background: scientists (specifically, paleoarchaeologists) now think that the reason H. neanderthalensis went extinct 40,000 years ago, leaving Planet Earth to the likes of you and me, was that they were provincial. They didn't go around trading tools and ideas, the way H. sapiens did. So just think: the fact that Odysseus spends the center of the poem going around testing whether people observe the guest code (ksenia}. risking his life and forfeiting that of his companions in the process, is because this wasn't just a Greek folkway; it was nothing less than a survival skill which had made the difference, and still did in his own day -- and ours! -- between species-wide survival and extinction. Worth pondering, no? Remember how Gandhi insisted that while rescuing India's ancient civilization he remained open to all the winds of culture wafting through the rest of humanity. Whew.
Happy to read comments, if any come up for you.
Michael
