Hi Steve! Thank you SO MUCH for the serendipitous link to Emily's wonderful review of Mendelsohn's book. Like the door-bed, it has opened my awareness to previously unrecognized connections between that decades-long attraction to re-reading The Odyssey and other rooms in my brain-soul that I've been drawn deeper into lately: rooms having to do with father and family and ancient languages and dreams and temporary homes and making peace with the dead. This morning I endured some testing on my eyes and have spent the past couple of hours in a bookstore-cafe waiting for my pupils to return to normal, which is where I read the review, and promptly purchased a copy of Mendelsohn's book, which a staff person was able to find for me! Thank you again, Steve. I suspect you may read more about this, either directly or in a post (I am rather sporadic, still working full-time). I'm honored to be your first "stranger" subscriber. Looking forward to reading much more of your inspiring writing!
Steve! How wonderful to have (by "chance") discovered you and your writing today! I clicked your link to this post because I wanted to read about your experience teaching The Odyssey. I read it 50 years ago for school. I had/have always been a voracious reader but was (and still am to some degree) challenged to remember what I've read. So for this assignment I decided to apply myself like glue to the words and names and adventures in this tale. I wrote lists and charts and synopses for myself. Upon completion, I took with my classmates a 100-question exam -- all multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank and such. No open-ended questions. I received the highest score in the class -- a 98 (I confused two similar names). After returning our test papers to us, our teacher organized us into small groups of 7 or 8 and gave us a set of discussion questions. I was speechless throughout. I had no idea how to respond. Ever since that day, for 50 years, I have imagined reading The Odyssey again, with the hope that now I would be able to glean more from it than I did at 16. I've carried Robert Fagles' translation across the country and back for several decades. And when Emily Wilson's translation was published in 2017 I went to hear her interviewed at a nearby bookstore and now own an autographed copy. But I have not yet read either version. Some years ago I read an article about re-reading books that gave one reason for hesitation as fear of being disappointed. I would add fear that I still won't "get it."
In any case, thank you for all the writing you've shared here, which I've made a tiny dent in reading this sunny morning on the East Coast of the USA.
What a lovely response! I love the Fagles translation, but also Emily Wilson’s. Do you listen to audiobooks? Clare Danes reads Emily Wilson’s translation, and I’ve enjoyed that a lot. I also found reading the Fagles out loud was a lot of fun; being a secondary teacher for many years gave me many opportunities to read passages out loud. Then there are some terrific books about how the text has inspired contemporary journeys; for example An Odyssey by Daniel Mendelsohn, which is reviewed by Emily Wilson here; https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/13/an-odyssey-a-father-a-son-and-an-epic-by-daniel-mendelsohn-review
And greetings to you from a sunny autumn morning in Canberra Australia. Where on the east coast?
(And thankyou for subscribing and commenting. All my present subscribers are people I know, or their friends. You're my first unknown. :-) Welcome.)
Hi Steve! Thank you SO MUCH for the serendipitous link to Emily's wonderful review of Mendelsohn's book. Like the door-bed, it has opened my awareness to previously unrecognized connections between that decades-long attraction to re-reading The Odyssey and other rooms in my brain-soul that I've been drawn deeper into lately: rooms having to do with father and family and ancient languages and dreams and temporary homes and making peace with the dead. This morning I endured some testing on my eyes and have spent the past couple of hours in a bookstore-cafe waiting for my pupils to return to normal, which is where I read the review, and promptly purchased a copy of Mendelsohn's book, which a staff person was able to find for me! Thank you again, Steve. I suspect you may read more about this, either directly or in a post (I am rather sporadic, still working full-time). I'm honored to be your first "stranger" subscriber. Looking forward to reading much more of your inspiring writing!
Steve! How wonderful to have (by "chance") discovered you and your writing today! I clicked your link to this post because I wanted to read about your experience teaching The Odyssey. I read it 50 years ago for school. I had/have always been a voracious reader but was (and still am to some degree) challenged to remember what I've read. So for this assignment I decided to apply myself like glue to the words and names and adventures in this tale. I wrote lists and charts and synopses for myself. Upon completion, I took with my classmates a 100-question exam -- all multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank and such. No open-ended questions. I received the highest score in the class -- a 98 (I confused two similar names). After returning our test papers to us, our teacher organized us into small groups of 7 or 8 and gave us a set of discussion questions. I was speechless throughout. I had no idea how to respond. Ever since that day, for 50 years, I have imagined reading The Odyssey again, with the hope that now I would be able to glean more from it than I did at 16. I've carried Robert Fagles' translation across the country and back for several decades. And when Emily Wilson's translation was published in 2017 I went to hear her interviewed at a nearby bookstore and now own an autographed copy. But I have not yet read either version. Some years ago I read an article about re-reading books that gave one reason for hesitation as fear of being disappointed. I would add fear that I still won't "get it."
In any case, thank you for all the writing you've shared here, which I've made a tiny dent in reading this sunny morning on the East Coast of the USA.
What a lovely response! I love the Fagles translation, but also Emily Wilson’s. Do you listen to audiobooks? Clare Danes reads Emily Wilson’s translation, and I’ve enjoyed that a lot. I also found reading the Fagles out loud was a lot of fun; being a secondary teacher for many years gave me many opportunities to read passages out loud. Then there are some terrific books about how the text has inspired contemporary journeys; for example An Odyssey by Daniel Mendelsohn, which is reviewed by Emily Wilson here; https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/13/an-odyssey-a-father-a-son-and-an-epic-by-daniel-mendelsohn-review
And greetings to you from a sunny autumn morning in Canberra Australia. Where on the east coast?
(And thankyou for subscribing and commenting. All my present subscribers are people I know, or their friends. You're my first unknown. :-) Welcome.)