The Odyssey's nonlinear path
- Joe
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
In anticipation of Nolan's upcoming film, and because I wanted to read it anyway (especially after the Iliad), I recently consumed the classic epic the Odyssey, one of humanity's most enduring and oldest surviving stories. I went for Robert Fagles translation from the 90s and it's incredible. It largely keeps the format and timing of the original verse yet uses language utterly readable to us in the modern age. Something would be lost in reading this in prose. The biggest hurdles for anyone interested might be reading rhythmic verse in the first place, something I've practiced the past few years (see also Tolkien's Lay of Leithian, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight), as well as knowing some context on the people and places in the bronze age Greek world. I was feeling pretty good about both considering my last few years and did not regret tackling this somewhat intimidating work. In fact, I loved it.
One big takeaway was about how the novel, I like to think developed via centuries of oral storytelling before assembly by the mysterious Homer, is entirely nonlinear in its narrative. When you think about the Odyssey, even if you're only halfway familiar with it, you likely picture the alluring Sirens, the brutal Cyclops, or maybe the bewitching Circe. Certainly the public fascination surrounding this story is the journey, and the great many trials forced on Odysseus, king of Ithaca, in his return from the Trojan War. And he goes through it over 10 long years. But how these are presented are not straightforward at all, nor do they even take up a majority of the story.
The Odyssey, like the Iliad before it, is broken into 24 'books,' i.e. chapters. These range in length from about 400 lines to nearly 1000 lines, but most are around 500. Overall it felt consistent in how long the books took to read.
Books 1 to 4 entirely follow Telemachus, Odysseus' now adult son, as he searches for answers regarding his legendary lost father, gone 20 years. It also introduces the murderous and gluttonous suitors, ravishing his house and inheritance all while, supposedly, vying for a marriage to his mother Penelope, queen of Ithaca and Odysseus' wife. Spurred by 'bright-eyed' Athena, Telemachus leaves his native island and heads to the mainland where he meets wise old Nestor in Pylos and Menelaus in Sparta (with returned 'white-armed' Helen). I, in advance of reading this and hearing that Tom Holland was cast in a lead role, was admittedly confused based on my remembrance of this story. In my mind Telemachus doesn't come into it until the gory end, but in that I was wrong. He's certainly central, though not as important as Odysseus.
It isn't until book 5 that we meet Odysseus in the (written) flesh. At this point he's already at his penultimate stop before home, the island of the nymph Calypso. From there he's taken, in a way, to another island, Phaeacia, where by the ending of book 8 he's shown warm hospitality (prevalent among the Greeks and expected by father Zeus, see: xenia). They shower him with gifts and host games in his honor before even learning his famous name.
Skipping ahead Odysseus arrives home, delivered safely by the mariner Phaeacians, at the beginning of book 13. Put another way, fully half of the books happen after Odysseus reaches Ithaca at last. It takes plenty of scheming on the parts of Odysseus, Telemachus and a few others to take back the island and serve the suitors their comeuppance. Really, this is the heart of the story. Odysseus determining who to trust. Penelope proving her mettle and faithfulness. Telemachus demonstrating he's become a man and son of a great king. But still, beyond the final conceit with the bow and the axes and the subsequent slaughter, I don't think the ending (or whole second half) is what mainly comes to mind when imagining the Odyssey.
That would be the trying journey:
(9)
The end of the Trojan War, and the Trojan Horse
The Cicones, raided by Odysseus and his men
The Lotus Eaters, where some of the Greeks lose interest in departing
Polyphemus, who eats the Greeks until they escape beneath his sheep
(10)
Aeolus, who provides a friendly wind until jealous companions release the rest
The Laestrygonians, giants who destroy all but Odysseus' ship
Circe, who turns the men into pigs
(11)
A mission to the river of the dead, produced by sacrifice and blood
Tiresias, the seer of Thebes
Anticlea, Odysseus' mother
Agamemnon, Achilles, Ajax, Minos, Orion, Sisyphus, Heracles and more
(12)
The Sirens, who only Odysseus can hear, tied to the mast
Helios and his cattle, eaten by the few remaining Greeks
Calypso, and Odysseus' confinement for seven years
This is all told by Odysseus to the Phaeacian court, only using 4/24 books in the story. Like the Iliad, where all the described action takes place very near the end of the 10 year war, the Odyssey doesn't actually take place over much time. Telemachus goes hunting for news in desperation. Odysseus is released from Calypso at the behest of Hermes. He washes up on Phaeacia, is taken in, shares all that's happened, and shortly afterward is back home. There he plots and carries out a plan, aided greatly by Athena. It all happens quickly in truth, with almost all the meat of the story told, by him, essentially in flashback.
I can finally get to the gist of all this. Not only is Odysseus' journey full of twists and turns, but how his story is told is that way too. Now, with Christopher Nolan directing, the master of puzzle boxes and messing with time, I'm trying to figure out how he's going to chop it all up. Because he undoubtedly will. The idea for this post came from the fact, in reading this book, it already felt like a Christopher Nolan movie in my mind. That made me more excited than ever to see it. Two weeks to go.
Comments