Reading Envy Readers discussion

Happy March! It's time to move to our next section of The Odyssey. Assume spoilers for this section here.

Well, it's about to hit the fan for the suitors! I really liked these books. So much went on. There were emotional reunions - Odysseus and loyal Eumaeus the swineherd, Odysseus and Telemachus, Telemachus and Penelope - but my favorite one, and maybe my favorite part of the Odyssey so far was the reunion between Odysseus and his loyal dog Argos! Wow, that was great. The poor old(!) dog living on a dung heap hadn't seen Odysseus for 20 years and recognized him even in Athena's disguise. Odysseus even shed a tear. A dog lover! I like him even more now. (I preferred the Fagles version of this reunion.)

Things seem to be reaching a boiling point in Ithaca. The goat herd had a meltdown at the fountain, tensions ran high at the dinner Odyssey showed up at and he was hit by a flying stool in his own house, and later he delivered quite a beatdown to the scoundrel Arnaeus (Irus). I think we'll be seeing more fisticuffs sooner than later.

Good stuff. I'm looking forward to the last set of books. Revenge is nigh!

Sorry, really hoping to finish catching up in the next day or so!

Jeff wrote: "Well, it's about to hit the fan for the suitors! I really liked these books. So much went on. There were emotional reunions - Odysseus and loyal Eumaeus the swineherd, Odysseus and Telemachus, Tele..."

Haha, that's a great summary! I love the description of when Eumaeus and Telemachus greet each other and the ongoing poor example of hospitality shown by the suitors.

I'm a bit behind but just read the entire chapter (!) about the swineherd and it made me realize that's as much as the entire section Circe got... no wonder Madeline Miller felt inspired to explore more of that story.

One thing I'm struck by in this group of chapters is how sometimes the gods are talked about as if they are the fount of morality, like a monotheistic God, and then at other times they are talked about like all powerful mean/cool kids. I think this happened with Zeus and Poseidon.

I'm assuming that, like the Bible, the version of the Odyssey that has come down to us is assembled from different written versions, so this might account for that?

Nadine wrote: "One thing I'm struck by in this group of chapters is how sometimes the gods are talked about as if they are the fount of morality, like a monotheistic God, and then at other times they are talked about like all powerful mean/cool kids. " I like your mean/cool kids comparison. Most of them seem rather petty considering how all-powerful they are. The world is their ant farm and they just can't help kicking over ant hills and pulling out their magnifying glass.

I just finished reading Week 3. The journey home is certainly heating up! I'm glad I reviewed the notes in the back of the book. I breezed by the lines (160- ) about Penelope in Book 18, when Athena gives her the idea to let the suitors see her. Specifically, the lines "...so her son and husband would respect her. Mysteriously, she laughed...." I didn't catch the possibility that Penelope may have already recognized Odysseus -- at least that's one interpretation. I just thought Athena was calling the shots again.

Nadine wrote: "One thing I'm struck by in this group of chapters is how sometimes the gods are talked about as if they are the fount of morality, like a monotheistic God, and then at other times they are talked a..."

It seems like even the gods know better than to get on the wrong side of some of them, such as Zeus... but then even Poseidon went rogue from Zeus at one point.

Nadine wrote: "One thing I'm struck by in this group of chapters is how sometimes the gods are talked about as if they are the fount of morality, like a monotheistic God, and then at other times they are talked a..."

Most modern scholars are content with saying that there is one author who wrote down the poem, but it had a rich oral tradition before. If you venture into some of the other old greek texts and poems about their gods, you'll see how some of the views changed over time.