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

by Daniel Mendelsohn

Well, we know he was with Calypso on her island because Homer tells us. It’s the part of the poem that he gets from the Muse, right? But he tells us about Circe as part of the story he’s telling the Phaeacians about his adventures, and she’s an awful lot like Calypso. And there are other weird parallels. I know this may seem contrived, but I was going to say that what I noticed in Book 10 was how much the Laestrygonians were like the Phaeacians. Odysseus lands on their island and then right away meets the royal princess, then the queen, then the king, but with the Laestrygonians it’s like a nightmare version of the Phaeacians. Yes, that’s right, I said. We talked about that last week. Blond Tom was nodding. It’s true. So many stories that Odysseus tells to the Phaeacians are like dark parallels to something we know for a fact that Odysseus experienced in the earlier part of the book. Nina looked over from her seat next to Jack. Pretty much everything he tells in the adventures stories comes off as a kind of lurid dream. It’s familiar and bizarre at the same time. I dunno, Brendan interrupted. I guess it feels like—okay, so I’m just going to say it. Do you think it’s possible that the stuff he’s telling the Phaeacians is totally made up? To me it feels like he’s just making it up as he goes along, basing the Apologoi on what actually happened to him. I pondered this. I see where you’re going, I said, and I will say that it’s really interesting, very intriguing. You’ve come ...