Unlike a typical memoir or biography, An Odyssey uses a nonlinear structure to fully capture the relationship between father and son. This explanation is essential, as Mendelsohn mimics these techniques in his own retelling. Woven into this biographical story is literary analysis and critique of Homer - as a professor, Mendelsohn cannot resist teaching us, explaining the meaning and significance of phrases like arkhe kakon (the beginning of bad things) and the structure of the Odyssey itself. The Odyssey is not stuck in the 8th or 7th century BCE - it is still alive today, almost three millennia later.Īn Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic by Daniel Mendelsohn is a testament to the enduring nature of the classics, as Mendelsohn and his father relive the Odyssey together, as so many generations of fathers and sons have done.Īn Odyssey takes place in several different locations: a classroom, where Professor Mendelsohn is bewildered by his elderly father’s decision to participate in his college seminar on the Odyssey the past, where Mendelsohn reflects on both his and his father’s childhood the post-fall period, where Mendelsohn comes to terms with his father’s accident and a cruise, where Mendelsohn and his father attempt to retrace the journey of Odysseus, noting that, “The one word in the English language that combines all of the various resonances that belong severally to ‘voyage’ and ‘journey’ and ‘travel’ - the distance but also the time, the time but also the emotion, the arduousness and the danger - comes not from Latin but from Greek. However, the Odyssey remains relevant today not because of the surface-level excitement of mythical exploits, but rather because the ideas Homer explores and the questions to which he seeks answers are not frozen in time. Part of the appeal is the fantastical, gripping nature of his deeds.

When reading Homer’s Odyssey, it is easy to get caught up in the adventure and escapades of the hero - tricking cyclops, fending off monsters, dealing with gods in disguise. You can learn more about Gayathri on GMW ‘s “Our Team” page. GOOD Morning Wilton ‘s book reviewer, Gayathri Kaimal, is a rising junior at Wilton High School and an avid reader who hopes to share her love of reading through her reviews.

An odyssey mendelsohn