The main readings for this episode were Book 5 of the Odyssey and Johnathan Shay’s 2002 book Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming.

Thank you for listening to Homer’s Odyssey. For our next episode, out on September 15, we will be reading Book 6 of the Odyssey and also Robert Graves’ 1955 novel Homer’s Daughter.

Books and similar mentioned in this episode:

de Jong, Irene. A Narratological Commentary on the Odyssey. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 2001.

Hainsworth, J.B.. “Books V-VIII” in A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey: Volume I: Introduction and Books I-VIII. Edited by Alfred Heubeck, Stephanie West and J.B. Hainsworth. Oxford University Press, Oxford: 1998.

Lord, Albert. The Singer of Tales. Third Edition, edited by David F. Elmer. Center for Hellenic Studies, Cambridge Massachusetts: 2018.

Parry, Milman. “The Traditional Epithet in Homer” in The Making of the Homeric Verse: The Collected Papers of Milman Parry. Edited and translated by Adam Parry. Oxford University Press, Oxford: 1971.

Shay, Jonatha. Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming. Scribner, New York: 2002.

Zieliński, Tadeusz. 1899-1901. “Die Behandlung gleichzeitiger Ereignisse im Antiken Epos.” Philologus Suppl. 8: 405-449.

Ancient poetry mentioned:

• Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite

Episode 4: Book 4 and Suzuki’s The Metamorphoses of Helen

The main readings for this episode were Books 4 of the Odyssey and Mihoko Suzuki’s 1989 book The Metamorphoses of Helen: Authority, Difference and the Epic.

Next time, September 1, we will read Book 5 of the Odyssey and Jonathan Shay’s 2002 book Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming.

Books mentioned in this episode:

Clayton, Barbara. A Penelopean Poetics: Reweaving the Feminine in Homer’s Odyssey. Lexington Books, New York, 1992.

de Jong, Irene. A Narratological Commentary on the Odyssey. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 2001.

Derrida, Jacques. “Plato’s Pharmacy” in Dissemination. By Jacques Derrida, translated by Barbara Johnson, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981.

Kajillionaire. Directed by Miranda July, performances by Evan Rachel Wood and Debra Winger, Plan B Entertainment, 2020.

Hartocollis, Anemona. “New College of Florida Was Progressive. Then Gov. DeSantis Overhauled It”. New York Times, December 28, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/us/new-college-ron-desantis-florida-conservative.html?smid=url-share

West, Stephanie. “Commentary on Book 4” in A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey: Volume I: Introduction and Books I-VIII. Edited by Alfred Heubeck, Stephanie West and J.B. Hainsworth. Oxford University Press, Oxford: 1998.

Ancient poetry mention:

• Theocritus, Idyll 18

The main readings for this episode were Book 3 of the Odyssey and F.A. Wolf’s The Prolegomena to Homer. It was written in Latin 1795. It was translated into English with an introduction and notes by Anthony Grafton, Glenn Most and James Zetzel in 1985.

Next time, August 15, we will read Book 4 of the Odyssey, and the relevant chapters from Mihoko Suzuki’s The Metamorphoses of Helen: Authority, Difference and the Epic.

Books mentioned in this episode:

West, Stephanie. “Transmission of the Text” in A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey: Volume I: Introduction and Books I-VIII. Edited by Alfred Heubeck, Stephanie West and J.B. Hainsworth. Oxford University Press, Oxford: 1998.

Wolf, F.A. The Prolegomena to Homer. Translated by, introduction by and notes by Anthony Grafton, Glenn W. Most and James E.G. Zetzel. Princeton University Press, Princeton: 1985.