A Translator’s Reckoning with the Women of the Odyssey
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Re: A Translator’s Reckoning with the Women of the Odyssey
#2On the topic of female gender & the Odyssey, here's a thesis 'Inhuman and Heroic Women: Femininity in the Odyssey and the Arthurian Vulgate' which includes reference to the original Greek text https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4157
Re: A Translator’s Reckoning with the Women of the Odyssey
#3>But many students, scholars, and general readers want even more from this literary character: they want her to fit the ideal of an empowered woman. It is comforting to subscribe to the notion—as Daniel Mendelsohn does in his recently published memoir, “An Odyssey,” and as Robert Fagles does, in his translation of the poem—that the marriage between Odysseus and Penelope is a partnership of intellectual equals, based on true love and a shared outlook on life. Odysseus speaks, in Homer’s poem, of the ideal of like-mindedness (homophrosyne) in marriage.
The modern impulse to impose its cultural norms upon the past is deeply upsetting. Its a sign of a frail, unsure, and declining culture.
Re: A Translator’s Reckoning with the Women of the Odyssey
#4> But many students, scholars, and general readers want even more from this literary character: they want her to fit the ideal of an empowered woman. It is comforting to subscribe to the notion—as Daniel Mendelsohn does in his recently published memoir, “An Odyssey,” and as Robert Fagles does, in his translation of the poem—that the marriage between Odysseus and Penelope is a partnership of intellectual equals, based…
Is it any different from any other time?
Things that are constant at any generation throughout history: the young always appear selfish and without morals; the past is not treated with enough respect; the overall culture is surely in decline. Athenians under Pericles were convinced of these, as were Romans under Augustus.
Re: A Translator’s Reckoning with the Women of the Odyssey
#5> But many students, scholars, and general readers want even more from this literary character: they want her to fit the ideal of an empowered woman. It is comforting to subscribe to the notion—as Daniel Mendelsohn does in his recently published memoir, “An Odyssey,” and as Robert Fagles does, in his translation of the poem—that the marriage between Odysseus and Penelope is a partnership of intellectual equals, based…
> The modern impulse to impose its cultural norms upon the past is deeply upsetting.
It's not a modern impulse, it's pretty much an invariant aspect of culture.
Of course, so is the tendency to perceive invariant aspects of culture as both unique to the present culture and signs of decline.
Re: A Translator’s Reckoning with the Women of the Odyssey
#6On the topic of female gender & the Odyssey, here's a thesis 'Inhuman and Heroic Women: Femininity in the Odyssey and the Arthurian Vulgate' which includes reference to the original Greek text https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4157
You a found graduate student's college paper with the Odyssey in the title.
Re: A Translator’s Reckoning with the Women of the Odyssey
#7If you thought this was interesting, you might also like Margret Atwood's "The Penelopiad"
Re: A Translator’s Reckoning with the Women of the Odyssey
#8> But many students, scholars, and general readers want even more from this literary character: they want her to fit the ideal of an empowered woman. It is comforting to subscribe to the notion—as Daniel Mendelsohn does in his recently published memoir, “An Odyssey,” and as Robert Fagles does, in his translation of the poem—that the marriage between Odysseus and Penelope is a partnership of intellectual equals, based…
Yeah, i'll go so far as to correct you there and say its not a sign of declining culture. It IS culture, period.
Its arguably even the case that it could be argued to be the sign of a particular kind of ascending culture, since being able to reinterpret the past and spread your own cultural norms could be said to give weight/momentum to a particular culture's propagation...
Re: A Translator’s Reckoning with the Women of the Odyssey
#9This is ridiculous.
The word "Odyssey" means journey. The way the author conflates it with sexism and privilege seems like she's just trolling for clicks.
It's a story about a man trying to get home, and a woman staying faithful in the face of uncertainty. Anything else is reading too much into it.
Just like if you're not yet confirmed dead in a war, your parents keep your room the way it was.
(EDIT: re: keeping the way it was, they'll come by and vacuum and dust once in a while.)
Re: A Translator’s Reckoning with the Women of the Odyssey
#10This is ridiculous. The word "Odyssey" means journey. The way the author conflates it with sexism and privilege seems like she's just trolling for clicks. It's a story about a man trying to get home, and a woman staying faithful in the face of uncertainty. Anything else is reading too much into it. Just like if you're not yet confirmed dead in a war, your parents keep your room the way it was. (EDIT: re: keeping the…
I have to respectfully disagree. I thought the author offered a thoughtful take on how sexuality and privilege is presented in the Odyssey. I can see where you could possibly criticize her for interpreting these themes through a modern/liberal lens but at least she backs up her analysis with Homer’s original Greek text. I hardly find this article click-baity.