Odyssey Book Review

The original author, Homer, was a Greek poet who wrote epic poems. Not much is known about Homer, but there are different theories of what Homer seems to be. Some believe he was not even a real person, some think that it was a group of people that made up the poems, some think he was a woman, and according to the legend, he was a blind, poor poet who lived in Ionia. The author of this specific translated version, Albert Cook, has been a Professor of Comparative Literature, English, and Classics at Brown University since 1978. He was educated at Harvard and is an author, poet, and playwright. He is the author of The Classic Line: A Study of Epic Poetry, Myth and Language, and Soundings: On Shakespeare, Modern Poetry, Plato, and Other Subjects.

It’s been ten years since the end of the Trojan War, and the Greek hero Odysseus still has not returned to his kingdom and family in Ithaca. A large and unruly crowd of suitors has overrun Odysseus’s palace and stolen his land carry on to court his wife, Penelope, who has been very faithful to Odysseus. Odysseus’ son, Prince Telemachus, desperately wants to throw the suitors out, but lacks the confidence and experience to do so. Antinous, one of the suitors, plans to assassinate Telemachus, eliminating the only opposition to their authority over the palace. However, unknown to the suitors, Odysseus is still alive and slowly working his way back to his kingdom.

Calypso, the beautiful nymph, has imprisoned Odysseus on her island, Ogygia. Although longing to return to his wife and son, Odysseus lacks the ships and the crew to help him escape. While the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus discuss Odysseus’s future, Athena decides to help Telemachus. Disguised as a friend of Laertes, Telemachus’s grandfather, she convinces him to call a meeting at which he criticizes the suitors and also prepares him to travel to Pylos and Sparta where he is informed that his father is alive and trapped by Calypso by the kings Nestor and Menelaus, his father’s companions during the war. While Telemachus makes plans to return back to Ithaca, Antinous and the other suitors plot to kill him when he reaches port.

On Mount Olympus, Zeus decides to send Hermes to rescue Odysseus from his imprisonment with Calypso. Hermes persuades Calypso to let Odysseus build a ship and leave to return back to his kingdom. The hero, filled with nostalgia, sets sail home, but when god of the sea, Poseidon, discovers him sailing home, he sends a storm to wreck his ship. The god has held a bitter grudge against Odysseus since the hero blinded his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus earlier in his journey. Athena steps in and helps to save the hero from Poseidon’s vengeful wrath. Odysseus ends up on the lands at Scheria, home of the Phaeacians. The Phaecian princess, Nausciaa, shows him the royal palace and he receives a warm welcome from the king and queen. When he reveals himself to them as Odysseus, the king and queen, who have heard of his endeavors at Troy, are stunned. They promise to give him a safe passage back to Ithaca, but first wish to hear of his adventures.

Odysseus spends the rest of the night describing his adventures which led up to his imprisonment on Calypso’s island. He tells of his trip to the Land of the Lotus Eaters, his battle with Polyphemus, Poseidon’s son and the Cyclops, his love affair with Circe, the witch-goddess, his temptation by the deadly Sirens, his journey to Hades to consult with the prophet Tiresias, and his fight with the sea monster Scylla. When he completes his story, the Phaeacians return Odysseus to Ithaca, where he goes to the hut of his faithful swineherd Eumaeus. Although Athena has disguised Odysseus as a beggar, Eumaeus openly welcomes him. Odysseus then encounters Telemachus and reveals himself to him. Odysseus