The Odyssey#2: "Tell Me About A Complicated Man, Muse"

Tell me about a complicated man, muse… In this episode of Instant
Classics Book Club, Mary and Charlotte dwell on the first ten lines
of The Odyssey (as translated by Emily Wilson) and show how it
contains not only a summary of the story that follows, but
introduces the themes, the subject, and the way the story will be
told. Whoever Homer was, they were not a blind sage belting out
rudimentary lyrics to listeners round a camp fire, but a
sophisticated story-teller/s working and re-working their text to
technical brilliance.  Sign up here:
https://instantclassics.supportingcast.fm/ In particular, Mary and
Charlotte introduce us to an ancient Greek word in the first line
which is the key to everything that follows. Polytropos
(πολῠ́τροπος) is almost untranslatable, but it is the secret to not
only Odysseus’ character, but the story itself. Deciding how to
interpret this word is amongst the biggest decisions a translator
takes.  Our aim in this episode is to get everyone thinking
about polytropos - and how you might interpret it over the course
of this story. Is it a good thing to be polytropos? Who in your
life is polytropos? Try dropping the word into conversation with
your boss. Or maybe don’t.  Send your thoughts to
instantclassicspod@gmail.com  And don’t worry - the pace will
pick up from here on!  Mary and Charlotte’s recommended reads:
You can find Emily Wilson’s discussion of “polytropos” (and her own
debates about how to translate it) here:
https://emily613.substack.com/p/on-complicated  Consistency
alert: In the episode we sometimes refer to polytropos, sometimes
to polytropon. That is because the main form of the word is
polytropos, but it appears in these lines as polytropon (we’ll
explain if you want!). Instant Classics handmade by Vespucci
Producer: Jonty Claypole  Executive Producer: Jo Meek 
Senior Producer: Natalia Rodriguez Ford Video Editor: Jak Ford
Theme music: Casey Gibson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
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