| Status: | Active, open to new members |
| Leader: |
Jennifer Martin
Tel: 01458 850054
|
| When: | Fortnightly on Wednesday mornings 10:00 am-12:00 pm Week 2. 2 terms. |
| Venue: | Baltonsborough Church Room |
The only meeting dates in Spring Term are 11th and 25th March. The missed Spring Term meetings will be made up after Easter on 22nd April, 6th and 20th May, and 3rd June.
The Odyssey
Last year was the first in which we departed from our usual practice of reading Greek Tragedies; we tackled The Iliad. It turned out to be a fascinating study, with all sorts of aspects emerging for this wonderfully engaged class to explore. So this year we are going to follow up the Iliad by reading *the Odyssey. If all of this sounds a bit daunting, please don’t be put off. To give you a flavour of how the class is conducted, here are some details.
The Odyssey has 24 books (=chapters) and so we read two at home before each session - about 25 pages. Then in class we spend a while going over what we did last time and then start exploring the new chapters. I might make a few points and the members mention anything they enjoyed/were intrigued or puzzled by and we talk about that. I never know what they are going to come up with, so it keeps me on my toes! These discussions often involve comparisons with today: how morals, attitudes etc. have changed and maybe why.
Odysseus, the eponymous hero, is a larger-than-life character, full of stratagems, enormous strength and leadership qualities. So we shall see how he deals with the Cyclops (see picture above/right), the Sirens, Calypso (a femme fatale who leads him astray) and a whole panoply of other dodgy characters. And to complete the gamut of these, we have Odysseus’ long-suffering wife, Penelope, who is not above a trick or two herself! This is a rollicking good yarn! Not to be missed!
*The edition we shall be using is: Homer: the Odyssey published by Penguin. ISBN 978-0-140-44911-2. Translated by E.V.Rieu, revised by D.C.H. Rieu.