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Book Chat: Sat. October 21
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Hi, all --
We'll be having a book chat this Saturday, so whether you're reading this or Antigone, I hope you'll stop by and say hi. I'll be checking both "channels" all day at least every hour or so, and posting a bunch. Hope to see some friends here!
--Deborah
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Odysseus' visit to Hades
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I found this one of the most striking chapters of the book; a friend of mine found it rather name-droppy, so I had to take another look.
Odysseus has gone down to Hades, the kingdom of the dead, as instructed by Circe the enchantress. Here he seeks advice from the prophet Tiresias, who unlike most of...
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Odysseus in a letter to the New Yorker!
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Unfortunately, I didn't read the article to which this letter refers. But the October 9th, 2006 issue of the New Yorker printed the following letter:
"Richard Brodhead, Duke's president, attempts an apologia for big-time college sports by invoking Odysseus as an 'image of excellence.' But a...
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Is Odysseus a compulsive liar?
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Full disclosure: I don't completely approve of such questions about literary characters. For instance, in a Jane Austen discussion forum I'm on, there are some people who talk about some of Austen's characters in this way -- is Willoughby a sociopath? How about Frank Churchill? It seems a little si...
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Does Penelope secretly enjoy having the suitors present?
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I don't happen to think she does, but I'm interested in what anyone else has to say about this.
Her son often accuses her of enjoying their presence -- never choosing one, but never wanting them to leave. But I think this is just bitterness on his part. Especially since, from things he himself *and*...
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Fabulous meeting!
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I just wanted to thank everyone for the terrific meeting. Of course there were brownies in attendance, but some very special fellow readers brought two bottles of Framboise and explained that raspberry liqueur and chocolate are extremely close friends and should be allowed to visit one another of...
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In-Person Meeting!
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Just wanted to remind everyone that this Saturday is the long-awaited, brownie-intensive IN-PERSON MEETING! Woohoo!
I live in southern California -- Santa Monica. If you can make it, drop me a line and I'll give you directions and all that.
For those who can't -- I'll be baking and cleaning...
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Telemachus and Penelope
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Hall of Shame time: yes, as of three o'clock on Saturday afternoon, I haven't *quite* finished the book! Bad girl!
Okay, but I'm *almost* done!
Anyway. Just wanted to ask this: what is up with Telemachus and Penelope? Does he *ever* have a good word to say about her?
Is this typical teenag...
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Do you want me to summarize chapters?
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Another poll!
I started summarizing chapters of The Odyssey, and then wondered if I should be or not. If you'd already read it, after all, you already knew what happened; if you hadn't, I was only giving stuff away.
The possible benefits of summarizing are, so far as I can see:
If you read t...
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Was Odysseus the hero of his own story?
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I'll be writing a full-length piece on this for Words, but I'd like to hear what people think about it.
David Copperfield begins with a telling sentence: "Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show."
Do the pa...
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Let the wild rumpus begin!
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Okay, it's chat day. It's also Book Group Meeting Day! So anyone who's planning on coming and hasn't Rsvp'd yet, please drop me a line. Don't assume that I know you're coming because you said you'd love to a month ago! Do you want there to be enough brownies to go around, or don't you???
If you'd like t...
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New read soon!
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Okay, I've never done this polling thing before, so I have no idea if it'll work or not. But I thought it would be fun to try.
I want some feedback on what people would prefer to read next. We had talked about a new publication of Euripides, but we have readers all over the place. It may not be possible fo...
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Question: Telemachus' Nurse
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I noticed that in both the Fagles and the Lattimore translation, it says that Eurycleia "nursed" Telemachus when he was a baby. I looked up the verb and it's literal -- that is, she wasn't simply his nurse, i.e. his caretaker; she breastfed him.
Does anyone know about the status of breastfeeding i...
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Who was Telemachus' Father-figure?
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Somebody had asked this before, and I couldn't find the thread it was in, so I thought I'd just start a new one.
In going over the material more closely for the chapter summaries (I'm getting more succinct with those -- huzzah!), I noticed that when Telemachus called that general assembly, one of t...
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Beautiful line from a poem
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Sorry -- I just came across this, and it reminded me of what we're doing now: reading one of the oldest preserved Greek poems. It's from a poem by Carolyn Forche, in the Sept. 25 New Yorker:
Writing is older than glass but younger
than music, older than clocks or porcelain but younger than rope.
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Odyssey: Book 2
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This chapter is titled "Telemachus Sets Sail," which pretty much sums it up.
Telemachus gets up the next morning, dresses, and slings "his well-honed sword" over his shoulder. I would very much like to know if this was a normal part of his apparel, or if he was putting it on to make a point (so to spea...
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Odyssey: Book 1 (finished)
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We now see Penelope, beautiful sister of Helen. And in what seems like an early example of the virgin/whore syndrome, Penelope has every virtue Helen doesn't. She's faithful, modest -- and the mother of a son. (Helen has only a daughter. To father only daughters was a sort of slow suicide for ancient G...
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Menelaus and Greek Hospitality
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I know I mentioned the importance of this concept in another posting. Just wanted to point out one more thing I noticed about its significance in The Odyssey.
When Telemachus goes to see Menelaus to ask him for word about Odysseus, he is treated as a valued guest even before Menelaus knows who he is...
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Online Chat -- Sat., Sept. 23
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Hi, all --
I'll actually have some time again this Saturday -- woohoo! The boys will be out playing and I can just sit in front of the computer and *bask*.
I thought it would be a great day to have another chat. We can talk about what we've read so far and how we like it, or if we don't. I will check in at...
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Scheduling In-Person Meeting
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Hi, all --
First, since the in-person group is still comparatively small, I'd really like to make it possible for everyone who wants to come to attend. Looking over all the feedback I've received, it seems like every weeknight is problematic for someone. Would a Saturday night work? I was thinki...
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Odyssey: Book 1 (part three)
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Telemachus speaks up to answer Athena's question as to who all these guests are. His words here are important enough to quote, since they sum up an important ancient Greek ideal. Speaking about his father, Odysseus, he says:
"I would never have grieved so much about his death
if he'd gone down w...
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A different view of Helen
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Hi, all --
The Trojan War began, of course, when Helen ran off with Paris to Troy, and her husband, Menelaus of Sparta, demanded that her former suitors fulfill their pledge and fight with him to win her back.
The morality, or rather immorality, of Helen's actions is questionable to us. The st...
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The Odyssey!
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First, all thanks to Jennifer for getting me off my duff and getting this started. This book group is still *very* new stuff for me, so I wasn't sure what form the online discussions were going to take. One brilliant and literate homeschooling mom I know said that she really enjoys reading the essays ab...
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Learning about Ancient Greece
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Just thought of two more books I should have mentioned before.
One of them is a children's book called Adventures in Ancient Greece. It's by Linda Bailey, and is part of the terrific Good Times Travel Agency series. The premise is that three children -- two fraternal twins, twelve years old or so,...
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Sept. 23 Odyssey Chat
(Preview)
Hi, all --
I'm going to be bouncing back and forth between reading, research, and some serious baking; but I'll be checking in here at least every hour or so, and trying to post a lot to get the ball rolling. I'll be finishing up some more chapter summaries -- I know it shouldn't be taking quite so many...
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Odyssey: Book 1 (continued)
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Where was I??
Okay. Athena goes to pay Telemachus, Odysseus' son, a visit. It's been decided on Mount Olympus that Hermes, the messenger of the gods, will be sent to Calypso, the nymph who's been hanging on to Odysseus, and tell her that she's just going to have to find some other guy to be her love-s...
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Odyssey: Book 1
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In this first chapter, Homer invokes the muse to sing to him of
the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy.
The muse apparently refuses to do any such thing, since we won't see hide nor hair of Odysseus for several more cha...
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Summarizing Chapters
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Hi, all --
I'm still new at this forum thing, so I'm trying out stuff and seeing what works, what people like.
In a Jane Austen discussion loop I'm on, there's always someone in charge of summarizing chapters of whatever book we're currently reading and discussing. I thought I'd give that a tr...
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Odyssey Chat -- First Session
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Hey, everybody --
Thought I'd get the ball rolling. I'll be checking in periodically all weekend.
The first thing that struck me in my reading of The Odyssey is that, as he did in The Iliad, Homer has started the story in the middle of the action. It's not all "And then mighty Odysseus set off acr...
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Odyssey Chat -- Penelope
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I thought I'd bring this up because it's been puzzling me and I'd love to hear some feedback on it. I'm wondering about how much control Penelope really has over her home.
On the one hand, her son (who's understandably bitter, but still) seems to think that Penelope could get rid of all the suitors "...
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