Description
This course begins with an in-depth reading and analysis of Homer's Odyssey in its cultural and historical context. We'll use the translation by Emily Wilson, the first woman to translate the Odyssey into English. The following weeks will be devoted to literary and artistic echoes of the Odyssey, ancient to modern. We'll read or view responses to the epic poem that approach it from a variety of ethnic, racial, and gender perspectives, including works by Sophocles, Seamus Heaney, Margaret Atwood, Zora Neale Hurston, Cavafy, Tennyson, Derek Walcott, the Coen Brothers, and more. Other topics include: folklore, the oral tradition, monsters, and the perils of translation.