An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic

by Daniel Mendelsohn

The plot of the Odyssey is not long in the telling. A man has been away from home for many years; Poseidon is always on the watch for him; he is all alone. As for the situation at home, his goods are being laid waste by the Suitors, who plot against his son. After a storm-tossed journey, he returns home, where he reveals himself, destroys his enemies, and is saved. —ARISTOTLE, Poetics