My first exposure to this epic story was an October 12th, 1995, episode of the PBS kids show Wishbone, called Home Sweet Homer. My second exposure was watching this pretty thorough miniseries by NBC that came out in 1997 which actually covers most of the main plot points of the story, but misses some of the more subtle themes. And my final preparatory text for launching into this book was James Joyce’s Ulysses, which illuminates The Odyssey about as much as the Moon illuminates the Sun.
If you haven’t read this poem, of course you should. The story structure is fun and several of the characters are well written and complex. It’s got everything you might want: love, war, hate, betrayal, mischief, deceit, loss, growth, and mythical gods and creatures. The theme of treating guests kindly seems like an eternally relevant topic, and almost Biblical in its reasoning. In the book the reason to treat guests well is because they might be a god in disguise. This sounds very similar to Jesus’s parable in Matthew 25:34-40 about who will inherit the kingdom of heaven.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”
In the end, even if you don’t happen to like every part of the story, you would have to be blind not to see how much modern stories elude to this epic masterpiece. And it’s worth reading just for that reason alone.
Here are some of my favorite lines from the story:
The son is rare who measures with his father,
And one in a thousand is a better man,
But you will have the sap and wit
And prudence – for you get that from Odysseus –
To give you a fair chance of winning through.
p. 30
Where shall a man find sweetness to surpass
his own home and his parents? In far lands
he shall not, though he find a house of gold.
p. 160
“Measure is best in everything.
To send a guest packing, or cling to him
When he’s in haste – one sin equals the other.
‘Good entertaining ends with no detaining.’
p. 298
These autumn nights are long,
Ample for storytelling and for sleep.
You need not go to bed before the hour;
Sleeping from dusk to dawn’s a dull affair…
…Here’s a tight roof; we’ll drink on, you and I,
and ease our hearts of hardships we remember,
sharing old times. In later days a man
can find a charm in old adversity,
exile and pain.
pp. 309-310