Christopher Nolan's Odyssey 1: What you need to know before you go
Notes de l’épisode
Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey - the most eagerly anticipated event since Odysseus spied the shores of Ithaca - is almost with us at last. Mary and Charlotte have been exploring Homer’s epic over the last year in the Instant Classics Book Club, but if you’re time poor or just want a little refresher, then you’ll find the basics in this pre-screening primer.
In the first half, they run through what actually happens in The Odyssey, as Odysseus, a twisty-turny man, makes his twisty-turny way back home. In the second, they pull out some of the big themes from the book - the problems of homecoming, post-traumatic disorder, the cost of war, growing up, fidelity, colonisation, and the thin line between so-called civilisation and so-called barbarism. This poem really does have everything, yet manages to be poetic and hugely entertaining while about it. In theory, it’s the perfect material for Christopher Nolan, who has long been fascinated with non-linear story-telling, the effects of war, and journeys. But whether he succeeds will be the subject of next week’s episode…
Further reading
Charlotte and Mary usually quote from Emily Wilson’s translation of the poem (W. W. Norton, 2018), but another good recent translation is by Daniel Mendelsohn (Chicago UP and Penguin Classics, 2025). But there are many translations on offer which will not mislead – so do not get too anxious about getting the “right” one.
Approachable introductions to the poem include:
Barbara Graziosi, Homer: a very short introduction (Oxford UP, 2019)
Edith Hall, The Return of Ulysses (I. B. Tauris, 2012)
Elton Barker and Joel Christensen, Homer: a beginner’s guide (Oneworld, 2013)
Moses Finley, The World of Odysseus is an old favourite (reissued by New York Review of Books, 2002)
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