This group, led by Johanna Hanink of Brown University, will cover the entirety of Homer’s Odyssey in Emily Wilson’s 2017 translation. Once we finish the Odyssey, we will go on to read two relatively recent, critically acclaimed engagements with the ancient epic: Daniel Mendelsohn’s 2017 memoir An Odyssey: A Father, A Son, and an Epic, and Zachary Mason’s 2011 novel The Lost Books of the Odyssey.

Homer’s Odyssey has enjoyed renewed popularity in the last few years, thanks largely to the appearance (in 2017) of Emily Wilson’s fresh new verse translation of the poem. Over 6 months (October-March), this group will read the entirety of the Odyssey in Wilson’s translation, with a particular eye to Homeric poetics and storytelling techniques. We will discuss oral composition theory, the “Homeric Question,” ancient epic, the use of micro-narratives, epithets, similes, etc.

At our last two meetings, we will turn to two recent engagements with the Odyssey. For our April meeting, we will read Daniel Mendelsohn’s 2017 memoir An Odyssey: A Father, A Son, and an Epic, in which Mendelsohn applies the lens of autobiography to the poem and posits that a central relational dynamic of the poem is that between fathers and sons. (You can listen to a podcast of Mendelsohn’s January 26, 2018 Athenæum salon about the book here.) We will then conclude in May with a discussion of Zachary Mason’s 2011 debut novel The Lost Books of the Odyssey, a reimagination of the Odyssey along multiple, fragmented alternate storylines.

Sessions will take a seminar format, combining mini-lectures (primarily on historical background and technical points of Homeric poetics) with group discussion.

The Odyssey reading group meets on the first Wednesday of the month from October 2021 to May 2022 (i.e., eight meetings total). Meetings are at the Athenæum and last from 5-7pm, which includes time before the discussion for informal conversation and snacks. Please ensure that you arrive by about 5:10pm at the latest.

Our core text will be Emily Wilson’s Odyssey.

As a kind of double coda to our reading of Homer’s Odyssey (October-March) we will also read two recent, critically-acclaimed engagements with the Homeric poem: Daniel Mendelsohn’s memoir An Odyssey (in April) and Zachary Mason’s novel The Lost Books of the Odyssey (in May).

Meeting dates and reading schedule (please read materials beforehand):

*VIRTUAL MEETING* Wed, October 6 | Odyssey Books 1-4

Wed, November 3 | Odyssey Books 5-8

Wed, December 1 | Odyssey Books 9-12

Wed, January 5 | Odyssey Books 13-16

Wed, February 2 | Odyssey Books 17-20

Wed, March 2 | Odyssey Books 20-24

Wed, April 6 | Mendelsohn, An Odyssey: A Father, A Son, and an Epic

Wed, May 4 | Mason, The Lost Books of the Odyssey

The Odyssey reading group is led by Johanna Hanink, Professor of Classics at Brown University. You can find out more about Johanna from her website: johannahanink.com

For more information: Contact Johanna directly at johanna_hanink@brown.edu