odysseus = enigma

 It was an odyssey in and of itself to read this whole thing! But I did it in about a month and a half rather than twenty years, so take that Odysseus. Anywho---this truly is such a formative piece of literature, and to get the privilege to read and study the first version of it written by a woman makes it even better. I'll be teaching this particular translation to two groups of students in the fall at my university, and one group in the spring, and also see this as such a privilege. To engage meaningful conversation and thinking among students whose prior experience with this text may have been half-assing it in a high school English class is a challenge I'm eager to accept. Because wow, there is a crazy amount of relevancy in this ancient poem that translates to the world we're living in today. From the mistreatment of migrants, foreignors, and the unhoused, to the concept (and misconstruing) of hospitality, to the innate desire to just make it home, to the ever-human wonderment over what higher powers may be working and moving within the world and our lives, I honestly don't have enough time to talk about everything I want to in this tome within the span of a semester. What remains, though, is Odysseus' intrigue as a main character, hero/anit-hero figure, and enigma, even after reaching the 525th page. Not to mention how the poem ends on what seems like a pretty bad place to end such a long, epic, sweeping tale. I have lesson planning and further thinking to do on the complexities of this story and how it reflects and shapes human nature, but hooray for the opportunity to keep stretching and exercising my academic muscles! :)

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