Week 7

In a sense, we are starting at the beginning of The Odyssey this week.  What do I mean by that?

Homer begins his tale in the middle of things, showing us the state of affairs at the home of Odysseus and telling of his son Telemachus' journey to find his lost father (books 1-4).  While Telemachus is searching, we are carried to Kalypso's paradise, where Odysseus is finally able to leave the island with hopes of reaching his home (books 5-8).

When a story teller begins in the middle of the story, as Homer does here, we say that he begins "in medias res".  In medias res = in the middle of things.   Books 1-4 and books 5-8 occur over the same period of time.

As we enter book 9, we will be taken back to the beginning of the story in what is often referred to as a flashback.  Over the next 4 books, we'll learn what happened before Odysseus came to Kalypso's island where we found him in book 1.

Handy new vocabulary

• in medias res - in the middle of things
• flash back - a movement of the narrative back to an earlier time
• hubris - pride toward or in defiance of the gods (Niobe/Arachne/many others...)
• motif - an image (often repeated in a story or tradition) representing an idea.  For example, weaving/spinning in The Odyssey represent storytelling and wisdom.  Note that Athena, the goddess most closely involved in The Odyssey, is the goddess of both wisdom and weaving.

Reading Assignment

*Highlight with all 5 colors and block the dialogue in The Odyssey.  Try to find at least one blue per book to contribute to our discussion.  You will continue to highlight the same way all year, unless instructed to change.

*Narrations: You may now move from written to oral narration as you feel prepared to do so.  To become an oral narrator, you will need to come to class with complete written narrations and highlighting.  You will then need to successfully narrate twice without looking at anything while you are speaking.  You will be given 15 seconds to look over the highlighting and notes in the text itself before you begin.  You may not look at your written narrations during this time.  Once you have met these requirements, you may dispense with written narrations for the rest of the year, unless instructed to resume them due to inadequate class preparation.  So far, our oral narrators are Kate Meine and Evie Nichols.  

The Odyssey - Book 9

• 1-81
• 82-104
• 105-176
• 177-249
• 250-306
• 307-406
• 407-461
• 462-end

DeAulaires

• read pages 162-175
• Narrate the story of The Golden Fleece

Metamorphoses

• read pages 223-242 (line 648)
• Narrate - first 5 sections involving Media