I normally try to post every Wednesday. Well, this Wednesday, you get what started as a short and sweet post that turned into a stream of consciousness rant about Greek Mythology and The Odyssey.
Don’t blame me. I have a bad cold. All my body wants to do is curl up with a good book and some tea, and then go to bed early.
If I skip today, I’ll be silently giving myself permission to skip in future weeks. So here are some scattered thoughts for this week. Don’t blame me if they are nonsensical, I’m sick!
The book I’m currently curling up with instead of giving you a full post is Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey.
I never thought I’d be able to read The Odyssey and understand it, let alone pick up on some of the recurring themes. Turns out, a version written in modern English helps. We had this conversation about old text translated into modern English when I talked about The Wife of Bath’s Tale by Chaucer.
I had forgotten that the most memorable tales come from Odysseus regaling King Alcinous of his adventures, not a telling of the actual adventures—Calypso, Circe, the Cyclops, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis—these are Odysseus telling the stories to the king and his court.
Guess what Homer wrote right before Odysseus starts this story? “Wily Odysseus, the lord of lies, answered,”
Odysseus is often described as wily and as a liar. Seeing that prefacing his entire story made me wonder—did he make it all up? Is the real story just one of PTSD, family separation, and violence with some fantasy thrown in there? Scholars say no. But I’m going to pretend that it is.
I’m feeling pressure to finish the full book before the movie leaves IMAX. I’ve heard the movie is disappointing to people who know the story, but I want to make that judgement for myself.
Just so you know, I’m not jumping on the Greek Mythology bandwagon because of the movie. I’ve been obsessed for the past 8-9 months. It all started when my astrologer told me about Hestia while describing the 6th house. I had never heard of Hestia, and I became obsessed. I won’t share more about her now because I’m saving her for a future Crone Files.
Since my obsession with Hestia began, I’ve taken a deep dive into the entire pantheon. I’ve listened to tons of podcasts and read multiple websites. I have also read Pandora’s Jar, Hekate, Circe, Medusa’s Sisters, Aphrodite in Pieces, Naked Statues Fat Gladiators and War Elephants, and my future reading list at the library is at least 20 books long. I highly recommend all those books. If you can’t tell, part of my obsession is fueled by the interest in the stories from the female perspective.
And now my sick self is telling me it is time to wrap up the post and blow my nose.
Oh, and buckle up. My Greek Mythology obsession is likely to bleed into many more posts.
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