Tag Archives: Odyssey

What To Make of a Hero That Lies

By Robin Bates | Published: February 23, 2020

A student wants to know what to make of Homer’s apparent approval of Odysseus’s lying. The question doesn’t admit of an easy answer.

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When We Yield to Inner Darkness

By Robin Bates | Published: February 20, 2020

The Odyssey explores how violence can swallow up those who engage in it. Odysseus is heroic in that he can listen to religious checks when blood lust threatens.

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Overcoming the Siren Call of Domination

By Robin Bates | Published: February 9, 2020

A reader suggests that the island enchantresses in “Odyssey” help the hero in his quest for integration.

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The Hero and the Goddess

By Robin Bates | Published: February 1, 2020

My reflections on the meaning of Homer’s gods “The Odyssey.”

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Odysseus’s Emasculation Anxieties

By Robin Bates | Published: January 29, 2020

“The Odyssey” is obsessed with a fear of emasculation.

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What Do Odysseus’s Monsters Mean?

By Robin Bates | Published: January 27, 2020

My explanation for the monsters in “The Odyssey.”

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Mentor: Rare for Sons to Be Like Fathers

By Robin Bates | Published: December 30, 2019

Homer explores the difficulty of a young man living up to his famous father. It’s a problem that continues with fathers and sons.

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Welcoming the Stranger

By Robin Bates | Published: December 25, 2019

In Homeric terms, Trump, in his treatment of immigrants, is akin to barbarians like the Cyclops and the Laestrygonians.

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Calvino on Reading the Classics

By Robin Bates | Published: September 17, 2019

In a famous essay, Calvino gives us multiple reasons to read the classics.

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