THE RETURN

The Return (2024) directed by Uberto Pasolini. There are no gods and no monsters in this version of The Odyssey. The narrative starts with Odysseus washing up on the shores of Ithaca. This is a family drama, a homecoming, that meditates upon how war and distance and absence and loss transform someone in ways, perhaps unimaginable and unreturnable. And there are others (the suitors) to get out of the way before intimacy can be revisited.

Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus and Juliette Binoche as Penelope carry the film. The rest of the cast doesn't really have much to do other than orbit around the couple at the center of the story., or doesn't know how to live into their roles, or both; they are caricatures and shadow puppets.

The colors of this film are rich, and the cinematography is scrumptious. The film is a slow burn with a satisfying scene of Odysseus slaying the suitors, although I actually wish it had been a bit more intense.

It's good and I would see it again, but this won't be everyone's goblet of wine.

Streamed on Kanopy, via the Pierce County Library System.

THE ODYSSEY

The Odyssey (2026) directed by Christopher Nolan. I really wanted to like this, but I found it corny and preachy. Plus, Nolan's wish to make a "more realistic" Odyssey (whatever that means) waters down the mythological and magical elements of much of the story. We also spend too much time in texts other than The Odyssey—Homer's Iliad, Virgil's Aeneid, the plays of the Oresteia (choose your playwright).

Scenes on the various islands on Odysseus's journey back home are fragmentary and neutered of much of their power. The various monsters lack any real monstrousness, and barely appear on screen. Then we get long and boring stretches in the palace with Penelope and the suitors.

And don't get me started on the fight scenes, which feel overly chaotic and strangely shot. Plus the sound design of them was overly loud, filled with reverb and feedback. No thanks.

Polyphemus the Cyclops has some interesting facial design, but then he posed in imitation of Goya's (circa 1823) "black painting" Saturn Devouring His Children while eating one of the men traveling with Odysseus, which I found pretentious.

I also don't know what was going on with the character of Agamemnon. He doesn't really speak. He's just a giant suit of glossy black armor with gold vertebrae on the back of the helmet. Is he supposed to be another monster? A symbol of death?

All in all, this film feels unbalanced to me. It's 2½ hour running time weighed upon me, and toward the end I wished it would just conclude.

Meh.

Watched on the big screen at Regal Cinemas.

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I seriously hope that someone will make a version of The Odyssey filmed in the animated style of Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (2018) and live into the gods and monsters of Homer's epic poem.

ODYSSEUS

"Athena Protects Odysseus" by Troy's Work Table. Deep dreamed by artificial intelligence.

Photo source: “Head of Odysseus,” marble, circa 1st century AD, Greek. From the "Blinding of Polyphemus" sculptural group as found at the villa of Tiberius at Sperlonga.

Style source: "Pallas Athena," oil on canvas, circa 1920, by Frantisek Xaver Naske.

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[Odysseus] is the embodiment of a truth obscured in our infantilistic age: Learning begins when development ends, for growing into oneself absorbs all the cognitive energies which, once “identity” is achieved, are free to turn to the world. For how can we learn if it is not we who are there to learn? We either change or grow wiser, but not both. A man who has visited Hades and is thus “twice-dead when other men die once” will see things in a new light. A man who has dealt with crafty, experienced witches and virginal princesses will have shown adaptability, “flexibility” as we say, and the attendant features of wiliness, tact, ingeniousness, ready charm, and occasional formidableness.
—page 51, Homeric Moments: Clues to Delight in Reading The Odyssey and The Iliad by Eva Brann

CIRCE

"Kirke Metamórfosi" by Troy's Work Table. Deep dreamed by artificial intelligence.

Photo source: “Circe,” bronze sculpture, 1893, by Bertram Mackennal.

Style source: “The Sorceress,” oil on canvas, 1913, by John William Waterhouse.

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"Peace. I would have laughed if I were not so ill. The sour tang of cheese in the kitchen, the salt-stink of seaweed on the breeze, the wormy earth after rain, the sickly roses browning on the bush. All of them brought the bile stinging to my throat. Headaches followed, like urchin spines driven into my eyes. This is how Zeus must have felt before Athena leapt from his skull, I thought. I crawled to my room and lay in the shuttered dark, dreaming of how sweet it would be to cut through my neck and make an end."
—page 239, from Circe by Madeline Miller

CIRCE

"Kirke Athánatos" by Troy's Work Table. Deep dreamed by artificial intelligence.

Photo source: “Circe,” albumen silver print from glass negative, 1865, by Julia Margaret Cameron.

Style source: “Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus,” oil on canvas, 1891, by John William Waterhouse.

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"But gods are born of ichor and nectar, their excellences already bursting from their fingertips. So they find their fame proving what they can mar: destroying cities, starting wars, breeding plagues and monsters. All that smoke and savor rising so delicately from our altars. It leaves only ash behind." 
—page 135, from Circe by Madeline Miller

CIRCE

"Kirke Pharmakis" by Troy's Work Table. Deep dreamed by artificial intelligence.

Photo source: "Circe," sculpture, 1860, by Charles-Alphonse-Achille Guméry.

Style source: "Circe Invidiosa," oil on canvas, 1892, by John William Waterhouse.

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"I had a wild thought there, beneath that sky. I will eat these herbs. Then whatever is truly in me, let it be out, at last. I brought them to my mouth. But my courage failed. What was I truly? In the end, I could not bear to know."
—page 65, from Circe by Madeline Miller

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"Let me say what sorcery is not: it is not divine power, which comes with a thought and a blink. It must be made and worked, planned and searched out, dug up, dried, chopped and ground, cooked, spoken over, and sung. Even after all that, it can fail, as gods do not. If my herbs are not fresh enough, if my attention falters, if my will is weak, the draughts go stale and rancid in my hands."
—page 83, from Circe by Madeline Miller

THE DEATH of HECTOR

"The Death of Hector" by Troy's Work Table. Deep dreamed by artificial intelligence.

Photo source: "Hector and Andromache," Italian marble, 1871, by Giovanni Maria Benzoni.

Style source, left: Terracotta amphora, circa 540 BC, Greek.

Style source, right: M51 "Whirlpool" Galaxy viewed by Chandra X-ray Observatory Center and Hubble Space Telescope.

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"The breeze shifts and blows towards him across this nine years' battlefield, and he imagines that somewhere behind leather and dung and horses and men long dead in the sun, he can just make out the scent of myrrh from the Scaean rampart."
—page 144, from The Rage of Achilles by Terence Hawkins

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"He falls backward and cannot believe he is still enough alive to hear bronze rattle and feel the shock of body on earth. He tries to move, more from curiosity than desire to be elsewhere. Nothing. The purple mist of which the poets speak is gathering. He did not expect it to roar in his ears. How could mist roar?"
—page 154, from The Rage of Achilles by Terence Hawkins

CUTTING IN: HOMER

Core texts of the TWT yearlong "Homer" reading project. Top, l to r: The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson; The Iliad by Homer, translated by Caroline Alexander; Homeric Hymns attributed to Homer, translated by Sarah Ruden. Middle, l to r: The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood; Memorial: A Version of Homer's Iliad by Alice Oswald; An Oresteia: Agamenon by Aiskhylos; Elektra by Sophokles; Orestes by Euripides, translated by Anne Carson. Bottom, l to r: The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason; War Music: An Account of Homer's Iliad by Christopher Logue; The War That Killed Achilles by Caroline Alexander.

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Some short reports of initial readings of these core texts.

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The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson

A terse and taut translation that seems much more faithful to the spirit of Homer's Greek than prior translations, in so many ways. This is the first translation into English by a female translator and it is welcomed with open arms. Wilson's rendering of Homer's dactylic hexameter into the preferred meter of English epic poetry, iambic pentameter, makes this version truly sing.

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The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

This book is trying too hard to prove a point and/or push a particular viewpoint. This is unfortunate because the premise is intriguing. Many of the chorus chapters are especially horrible, written in uninspired, insipid lines of poetry and presented in forced, awkward rhymes.

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The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason

As imaginative as the original, these short stories serve as alternate tales of Odysseus and some of the the other characters of The Odyssey and The Iliad. Imaginative, existential, playful, postmodern, thought-provoking. This is what The Penelopiad should have been.

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The Iliad by Homer, translated by Caroline Alexander

This translation of The Iliad has longer and looser lines than Wilson's Odyssey, but it is still poetic and faithful, although also questioning.

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Memorial: A Version of Homer's Iliad by Alice Oswald

This is less translation than reimaginings of the death scenes of each warrior interspersed with the similes of the poem, the latter of which are mostly represented in a repeated double format. Stripped of the narrative pieces of its source material, this is a completely different beast. Quite fascinating.

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War Music: An Account of Homer's Iliad by Christopher Logue

A radical reimagining of large sections of the poem by a practicing poet. Logue brings his own voice to Homer's story while still packing a punch. The death of Patroclus at the hand of the god Apollo is especially striking. (pun intended)

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Homeric Hymns attributed to Homer, translated by Sarah Ruden

The Homeric Hymns, as translated by Sarah Ruden, do truly sing to the Muses. Her eleven-syllabled lines are quite pleasant on tongue and ear.

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An Oresteia: Agamenon by Aiskhylos; Elektra by Sophokles; Orestes by Euripides, translated by Anne Carson

I have a complicated relationship with Anne Carson. I absolutely love some of her work and loathe some of the rest. At one time I wasn't sure of these translations of plays about  members of the House of Atreus. I've grown to love Carson's translations.

Carson plays a bit loose at times with these texts and their translations, but the contemporary language and colloquial phrasing usually work.

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The War That Killed Achilles by Caroline Alexander

This is the book that Alexander wrote regarding the history and narrative of The Iliad, and which prompted her to eventually translate the poem. It is well-researched and well-written.

THREE THREADS

There are three threads I'm currently pursuing in my Homer/ancient Greek "cutting in" reading project.

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Thread One.

I am reading The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel by Nikos Kazantzakis. I've completed Book One (of Twenty-Four). It is very slow going because the language is so rich, dense, and chewy. My guess is that is due to both the original Greek and many metaphors that Kazantzakis wrote in, as well as his translator Kimon Friar (a fellow Greek and a poet in his own right) trying to capture the words, rhythms, and images of Kazantzakis in English as best as possible.

In other words, I'm reading this epic poem much differently than I did either The Odyssey (in a glorious spare translation by Emily Wilson) and The Iliad (through a fascinating translation by Caroline Alexander, as well as two simultaneous readings of poetic "versions" of the same—Memorial by Alice Oswald and War Music by Christopher Logue—each with its own interpretation of Homer's original text).

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Thread Two.

I discovered that one of my local libraries has the film versions of two plays by Euripides, as filmed by theater and film director Michael Cacoyannis—The Trojan Women (1971) and Iphigenia (1977). Both films were based on earlier stage productions that Cacoyannis had directed. I'm looking forward to delving into both. One looks at the start of the Trojan War from the Greek side of things (Iphigenia), while the other looks at the end of the same war from the conquered Trojan vantage point (The Trojan Women).

Having seen a live stage production of The Trojan Women, I'm really looking forward to both films.

(I watched the first half-hour of The Trojan Women during lunch today and it is spectacular and gut-wrenching. Katharine Hepburn as the Trojan queen Hecuba and Geneviève Bujold as her daughter Cassandra were powerful performances I won't soon forget and am hoping to continue watching tonight or tomorrow.)

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Thread Three.

A few years ago, I picked up a hardcover copy of The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes at a library book sale. It was obvious the book had never been read, which is how I'm sure it came to end up being removed from circulation. Similarly, I've yet to read it. It has sat on a bookshelf of my home library, untouched.

But now it will get a good reading. Apparently, large sections of it focus on The Iliad and how the "gods" of that epic poem are auditory hallucinations from one side of the brain to the other side of the brain of the heroes who are being spoken to, due to the fact that the rosy-fingered dawn of what we think of as modern consciousness (and the internal monologue and voices that we think of as our own) had yet to fully emerge. Likewise, how the shift to dawning consciousness has taken place by the time we get to The Odyssey, and so the relationship between Odysseus and the gods is different in his journeys than when we encounter him on the battlefield of the Trojan plains. (And then I'm pretty sure that the sequel of Kazantzakis will push Odysseus further along in experiences of consciousness as he engages existential crises and encounters "versions" of Don Quixote, Buddha, and Jesus Christ.)

THE ODYSSEY: A MODERN SEQUEL

Greek edition of The Odyssey: A Modern Translation by Nikos Kazantzakis (1938) and translated into English by Kimon Friar (1958).

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After simultaneously reading The Iliad by Homer (translated by Caroline Alexander); War Music: An Account of Homer's Iliad by Christopher Logue; and Memorial: A Version of Homer's Iliad, I decided I needed to head in a different direction for a bit. It was primarily prompted by the fact that I'm having battlefield nightmares in the patches of sleep I've been getting on recent nights filled with reading and insomnia and more reading and more insomnia. Considering that I don't typically remember my dreams and that these were rather vivid, I thought I would delve back into the tales of Odysseus and away from the plain of Troy.

I remembered that I have a copy of The Odyssey: A Modern Translation by Nikos Kazantzakis, a book I found in a used book store in 2015, for just a few dollars.

I haven't read it yet, instead using it for the occasional bibliomantic "divination" and the beautiful lines I encounter when randomly opening its pages. But now is the time to take the plunge and add another book influenced and inspired by the work of Homer to my current "cutting in" reading project.

END(S)

"Achilles Tying Hector's Body to His Chariot," vase, circa 510 BC, by an unknown Attic Black-Figure vase painter.

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As I've been reading Caroline Alexander's translation of The Iliad, I've posted a brief synopsis of each book I complete on Twitter. Here are my collected Twitter synopses of books twenty-one through twenty-four.

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BOOK 21

12 captured for blood debt. Lykaon begs. River Scamander attacks Achilles. God fights god. Trojans retreat.

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BOOK 22

Priam beseeches Hector to come into Ilion. Running and pursuit. Hector falls at Achilles' hand. Keening.

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BOOK 23

Funeral feast. Shade of Patroclus visits. Funeral pyre. Chariot races. "Painful boxing." More games & prizes.

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BOOK 24

12 days of dragging Hector's corpse. Eagle omen. Priam supplicates. Ransom. Hector returned. Funeral. End.

"SPATTERED with GORE"

"Pylos Combat Agate," carved agate seal, circa 1450 B.C. Found near the palace of Nestor, king of Pylos, who appears in The Iliad.

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"...his invincible hands spattered with gore."

—the final line of Book 20 of The Iliad by Homer, translated by Caroline Alexander

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As I've been reading Caroline Alexander's translation of The Iliad, I've posted a brief synopsis of each book I complete on Twitter. Here are my collected Twitter synopses of books seventeen through twenty.

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BOOK 17

Fighting over the body of Patroclus. Apollo goads Trojans. Athena goads Greeks. Antilochos runs to Achilles.

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BOOK 18

Nereids mourn. Achilles aegis-clad. Clarion voice. Patroclus retrieved. Mourning rites. Armor by Hephaestus.

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BOOK 19

Achilles rallies Greeks. Eat or battle? Gifts, reparations. Athena: ambrosia. Achilles arms. Xanthos speaks.

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BOOK 20

Gods @ war. Achilles vs Aeneas. Poseidon saves Aeneas. Achilles vs Hector. Apollo saves Hector. Demonic fire.

SHIPS on FIRE

"Trireme," sketch, by unknown artist.

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"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."

—the final words of Roy Batty to Rick Deckard in the film Blade Runner

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As I've been reading Caroline Alexander's translation of The Iliad, I've posted a brief synopsis of each book I complete on Twitter. Here are my collected Twitter synopses of books thirteen through sixteen.

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BOOK 13

Poseidon as Calchas rallies the Achaeans. Battle ranks. "They fought like blazing fire." Words of war abound.

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BOOK 14

Odysseus rebukes Agamemnon. Hera tempts and tricks Zeus. Earth-Shaker turns the tide. Vaunting and death.

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BOOK 15

Zeus speaks what will happen. Assignments for Iris, Apollo. Apollo and Hector lead. Fighting for the ships.

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BOOK 16

Patroclus implores Achilles. Ships on fire. Patroclus dons Achilles' armor. Sarpedon dies. Patroclus dies.

≠ "AND THE BLOOD CEASED TO FLOW"

"Grave stele of Hoplite Battle Scene," marble, circa 390 B.C. Public domain, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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"And the wound dried up, and the blood ceased to flow."

—the final line of Book 11 of The Iliad by Homer, translated by Caroline Alexander

(If only...)

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As I've been reading Caroline Alexander's translation of The Iliad, I've posted a brief synopsis of each book I complete on Twitter. Here are my collected Twitter synopses of books nine through twelve.

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BOOK 9

Diomedes speaks. Nestor speaks. Embassy from Agamemnon to Achilles. Meal. Phoinix speaks. Further fueled rage.

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BOOK 10

Brothers Atreus rouse the watches. Athena "faves" Diomedes and Odysseus wander into Trojan camp. Dolon. Dead!

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BOOK 11

Armor. "Men killing and men being killed." Struck: Agamemnon, Diomedes, Odysseus. Nestor's war story. Herbs.

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BOOK 12

Storm of the gods against the sea wall. Testing the trench. Eagle and snake. Hector breaches the Greek gates.

BATTLEFIELDS

"Bronze helmet of Corinthian type," bronze, circa 650–600 B.C. Public domain, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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As I've been reading Caroline Alexander's translation of The Iliad, I've posted a brief synopsis of each book I complete on Twitter. Here are my collected Twitter synopses of books five through eight.

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BOOK 5

Athena and Diomedes. War fury. Diomedes slaughters many, strikes Aphrodite, attacks Apollo, wounds Ares.

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BOOK 6

Appeasing Athena in the house of Priam. Guest friends Diomedes and Glaukos. Bellerephon vs. Chimaira.

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BOOK 7

1 on 1: Ajax vs. Hector. "Yield to night." "Illustrious gifts." Truce for clearing the dead. Wine from Euneos.

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BOOK 8

War resumes. Defending the ships. Slaughtering named Trojans. Stopping Teucer's bow. Athena vs. Zeus.

ILIADS

Left to right: Memorial: A Version of Homer's Iliad by Alice Oswald; The Iliad by Homer, translated by Caroline Alexander; War Music: An Account of Homer's Iliad by Christopher Logue.

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My reading of The Iliad is much slower than that of The Odyssey. But that is primarily due to me reading through three different texts. Caroline Alexander's translation of The Iliad is the anchor text, with forays into Memorial and (now that it has arrived) War Music—both poetic renderings that take liberties with Homer's words.

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War Music is the most intriguing of the three to me right now, but that is primarily due to its newness, since I've read Memorial multiple times and The Iliad in other translations, as well as its difference.

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War Music (2016) collects the various volumes of Iliad-related poetry that Christopher Logue published as part of a lifelong project—Kings: An Account of Books 1 and 2 of Homer's Iliad (1991); The Husbands: An Account of Books 3 and 4 of Homer's Iliad (1995); All Day Permanent Red (2003, Books 5 and 6); Cold Calls (2005, Books 7, 8, and 9); War Music (1981, which itself collected Patrocleia, 1962, Book 16; GBH, 1981, Books 17 and 18; and Pax, 1969, Book 19); and various fragments of Books 10-24 that would have eventually been published as Big Men Falling a Long Way, if Mr. Logue had not fallen extremely ill and died a few years later. Those fragments also include the untitled poem based on Book 21 that started all of this with its publication in 1959.

I'm glad to have all of these Homeric musings in one volume!

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Now to read!

SPARK that STARTS

"Helen of Troy," oil on panel, 1863, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

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As I've been reading Caroline Alexander's translation of The Iliad, I've posted a brief synopsis of each book I complete on Twitter. Here are my collected Twitter synopses of books one through four.

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BOOK 1

Agamemnon and Achilles in conflict. Women as war chattel. Council of the gods at the request of Thetis (Mom).

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BOOK 2

Zeus sends Dream. Speeches and more speeches. A genealogy of ships, armies, leaders, locations. War machines!

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BOOK 3

Trojans and Achaeans face one another. Paris and Menelaos battle for Helen's hand. Aphrodite intervenes.

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BOOK 4

Athena sparks war. Blood of Menelaos. Ares and Athena push men forward into battle. The deaths begin.

OGYGIA

"Ogygia" is the seventh member of The Grand Armada (of the "Inktopodes.") Like, "Merian" before her, she was created as a portfolio piece for upcoming shows.

Ogygia is named for the isle of Calypso as encountered in Book 5 of The Odyssey. Her look is inspired by the vegetation of the island (citrus, celery, cypress, violet-filled meadow) and the sea that laps at the shore (her arms). It is also inspired by the god Hermes, who is sent to tell Calypso to release Odysseus from his seven-year captivity on the island. The mantle of this Inktopod echoes the winged cap/helmet of Hermes in shape, as well as in the tree "feathers" that adorn it.

Ogygia is watercolor ink, India ink, gouache, and pigment-based iridescent calligraphy ink on 8" x 10" watercolor paper.

FANBOY

Over in the Twitterverse, I received an unsolicited tweet reply from Emily Wilson, whose translation of The Odyssey I just finished. Sometimes the internet can be a beautiful place. Not often, but just enough.

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troysworktable @troysworktable
As I've been reading Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey, I've posted a brief synopsis of each book I complete on Twitter. Here are my collected Twitter synopses of books nineteen through twenty-four...

Emily Wilson @EmilyRCWilson
NB there are synopses in the actual book too.

[I love her nota bene.]

troysworktable @troysworktable
Now that I've finished the poem proper, I'll go back and read the synopses and notes. I wanted to see what 140 characters (or less) synopses of each book would entail (for me).

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troysworktable @troysworktable
BTW, thank you so much for your translation. It is a splendid read. I loved the cadence and rhythm that you injected into the tale. A handful of times I checked your translation against Fagles just to see the differences. I prefer the directness of yours.

Emily Wilson @EmilyRCWilson
Fagles adds a lot!

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[The literary "fanboy" in me swoons!]

SCARS and STOPS

"Penelope," gold ring, 5th century BC, Syria.


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As I've been reading Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey, I've posted a brief synopsis of each book I complete on Twitter. Here are my collected Twitter synopses of books nineteen through twenty-four.

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BOOK 19

Beggar-Odyssey speaks with Penelope about Odysseus. Eurynome recognizes his scar. Dream contest.

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BOOK 20

Insomnia and Athena. Prayers and signs. Prep work of the slaves. Feast. Suitors torment T and O. Prophecy.

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BOOK 21

Bow of Iphitus. Crying slaves. Contest. Doors locked. The bow is strung. Bullseye!

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BOOK 22

Antinous as target. Fear! Slaughter and battle in the palace. Aegis! Cleaning blood. 12 girls w/o honor.

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BOOK 23

Eurycleia tells Penelope of Odysseus' return. Olive tree firmly rooted. Husband and wife cry and clasp.

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BOOK 24

A gathering of dead men. Odyssey and Laertes. Ithaca gathers, seeking revenge. Athena ends the war.

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Then Zeus ends the tale with an exclamation point? No, Athena takes his exclamation and makes it a period.

(Nikos Kazantzakis doesn't think the tale ends here. His The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel was published in 1938. But that is another story...)