Checking in again- I’m up to book 18, and I have an 8-hour train ride tomorrow, with a return trip on Thursday, so that should finish it up nicely. How is everyone doing? I’ll probably be without net access until Friday, but don’t let my absence stop you if you want to start the discussion thread.
The structure if this book threw me for a bit of a loop when I realized (when I was reading about Odysseus meeting the Phaecian royals) that the time encompassed from the start of the book to the end isn’t 10 years, like I assumed, but only what- a few months? All the stories about what Odysseus was up to for 10 years are related to us through someone telling someone else- except for the bit where Calypso sends him on his way. Other than that, we get Telemachus’ travels, the Soap Opera of the Gods, and tales being told around the royal hearth.
Also, Menelaus’ story about wrestling Proteus to get him to dish the dirt on the rest of the Greeks has been haunting me- just where did that sea-nymph get those stinky sea-skins, anyhow? Poor, cute seals :(I’m not sure why that bothers me when all the sacrifices and bloodshed don’t, but there’s something primal about it, perhaps because the smell is mentioned so explicitly, that makes me shudder. I’ve been doing some drawings- I’ll try to get them scanned in and show you later in the week.