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

by Daniel Mendelsohn

The Greek name that tradition has assigned to this part of the poem—the long-awaited narration of Odysseus’ adventures, which, for many readers, are the most memorable part of the Odyssey—is the Apologoi, the “Narratives.” This title reflects a crucial fact: the narrator of these tales is none other than Odysseus himself. Thus far, everything we know about Odysseus, his imprisonment by Calypso, the shipwreck after his departure from her island, his discovery by Nausicaa, his arrival at the palace of the Phaeacian king and queen, is narrated by the poet of the Odyssey. But the adventures that have become so famous that even people who haven’t read the Odyssey know about them—his encounters with the Lotos-Eaters, addicted to a drug that can make men forget their homelands; the fearsome monsters Scylla and Charybdis, who inhabit opposite sides of a narrow strait, preying on the sailors who pass through; his encounter with Circe, who turns his men into pigs; the one-eyed monster Cyclops—are related by him. Hence “Narratives”: a title that underscores Odysseus’ wondrous way with words, his sly expertise as a raconteur and fabulist.