How to Read the Epics of Homer: The Iliad & The Odyssey [s1vuEZV5mBJ]
📚 Read the Great Books with the Hardcore Literature Book Club: ———————————— 🎙️(Subscribe to the Hardcore Literature Podcast on iTunes & Spotify) ———————————— 📔Contents Page: 🎖️ War and Peace: 🎭 Shakespeare Project: 🐳 Moby Dick: ☄️ Blood Meridian: 🍂 Wuthering Heights: 🇮🇪 Ulysses: 🚂 Anna Karenina: 💀 Crime and Punishment: ⚓ Persuasion: 🎠 Don Quixote: 🇫🇷 Les Misérables: ———————————— 0:00 the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer 2:00 why read the epics of Homer? 5:00 how to read Homer’s epics 6:00 who was the poet Homer? 7:00 unitarians vs analysts 8:30 reading the epics in sequence 9:30 young Homer vs old Homer 10:30 was Homer a woman? 12:00 single poet vs multiple tellers 13:30 oral culture vs written record 14:00 Milman Parry and Albert Lord 15:00 oral formulaic composition 16:00 travelling singing bards 16:30 how to memorise the epics 17:00 repetition in Homer’s epics 18:30 how to adapt the epics to film 19:00 importance of poetic formulas 20:00 world’s most musical language 21:00 Homeric dactylic hexameter 22:30 Ancient Greek vs English verse 24:00 ‘Rage: Sing, Goddess…’ 25:00 Iliad as meditation on rage 26:00 what makes an epic an epic? 26:30 analysis of the Iliad’s first line 27:00 opening invocation to the Muse 27:00 who is the Muse of Homer? 28:00 memory as foundation of culture 29:00 great epics are about great heroes 30:00 ‘Speak, Memory, of the cunning hero’ 31:00 analysis of the Odyssey’s first line 32:00 ‘tell the story once more in our time’ 32:30 why do epics begin in medias res? 33:00 no spoiler warnings in ancient times 35:00 creating suspense vs easing tension 36:00 Achilles withdraws from the battle 37:00 opening Telemachia of the Odyssey 38:00 why did the original audience listen? 39:00 the much larger Epic Cycle 40:00 read Homer to read the tradition 40:30 Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides 42:00 Homer’s influence on theatre 42:30 theory of anxiety of influence 43:30 Plato, Virgil, Ovid, Dante, Milton 45:00 epic prose of Tolstoy and Joyce 46:00 Homer’s Odyssey in Ulysses 47:00 Cervantes, Dumas, Dickens, Tolkien 48:30 mythic archetype of the hero 49:30 these epics are everybody’s stories 50:00 outlining the plots of the epics 50:30 how to be like the first audience 51:00 what is the story of the Iliad? 53:00 what are the Greeks fighting for? 54:00 Agamemnon vs Achilles 55:00 Greek vs Roman heroes 55:30 why Achilles refuses to fight 56:30 the gods of Mount Olympus 58:00 sense of honour in Ancient Greece 59:00 having something to fight for 1:00:00 what makes a Homeric hero? 1:03:00 resonance of the hero’s journey 1:05:00 difference in myth vs history 1:06:00 poetic truth in mythology 1:07:00 did the Trojan War happen? 1:07:30 Schliemann’s discovery of Troy 1:09:00 conflict, fire, evacuation 1:09:30 how myth encodes history 1:10:30 what is the story of the Odyssey? 1:12:00 symbolism of storytelling 1:12:30 homecoming and coming-of-age 1:13:30 theme of Xenia/hospitality 1:14:30 themes of identity and home 1:15:00 Odyssey as rebirth narrative 1:15:30 Odysseus blinds the Cyclops 1:16:00 everyman pretending to be no-man 1:16:30 are you Achilles or Odysseus? 1:17:00 fantastic adventures of the epic 1:18:00 recognition and royal reversal 1:19:00 what I love most about Homer 1:21:00 what is the best translation of Homer? 1:22:00 translators as puritans vs cavaliers 1:22:30 taste test for Homer translations 1:23:00 lifelong reading assignment for you 1:23:30 my top recommended translation 1:24:00 Stanley Lombardo translation 1:25:30 Robert Fagles translation 1:27:00 Richmond Lattimore translation 1:28:30 Robert Fitzgerald translation 1:29:30 Emily Wilson translation 1:30:40 E. V. Rieu translation 1:31:30 Daniel Mendelsohn translation 1:33:00 George Chapman translation 1:34:00 which translation was your favourite? 1:34:30 more quick tips for reading Homer 1:35:00 maps, rabbit holes, resources 1:35:30 how to make your reading communal 1:36:00 pacing for book club lecture series 1:38:00 book club back catalogue lectures 1:38:00 what is your experience with Homer?