Current Study: Homer’s Odyssey.  

Sundays at 5pm EST/4 CST.

New Members welcome every quarter 

Next opening: June 2022

This slow reading path is for first-time readers of Homer’s Odyssey, as well as those who were introduced to the story in high school or college, but without leisure to understand and enjoy the full scope of the genius of the epic. Many of the poem’s hints about domestic and married life are lost on young readers, but those and other themes have appealed to adults for 2,500 years. We often hear that “it’s all about the process,” but maybe one cannot really make sense of a journey until the end – upon returning, looking back, and re-telling the story. But what shall we do if we are mid-journey or just beginning?

We will read much of the Odyssey aloud, during weekly online sessions, allowing time to discuss our questions about the story. By reading and conversing, we will discover things that often go unnoticed and un-enjoyed, and readers will gain a better understanding of the Odyssey than any lecture about it can provide. Please participate even if you do not have time to read each week; our discussions will focus on the passages that we read aloud for about 15 minutes.

We will spend two weeks on each of the 24 books of the Odyssey. Such slow reading of one book is a meditative practice in careful reading and conversing. Rather than jumping from one thing to another in a frantic chase after news or the next fix, spending time with a story of such breadth and depth is one beautiful, inspiring and refreshing way to spend a Sunday morning.

Recommended translation: The Odyssey, by Homer, Robert Fitzgerald translation (ISBN 10: 0374525749).  You may read any translation or translations you wish (and listen to an audio version too!) I invite you to use more than one translation as a way to slow down and look more carefully at the details and “clues to delight.”  Speaking of clues…

Generally, we do not use resources outside of our text and conversation in an effort to avoid academic debates and invite greater participation. However, if you are a teacher or would like to supplement our shared reading, Eva Brann’s Homeric Moments, Clues to Delight in Reading the Odyssey and the Iliad, offers the reflections of someone who has spent a lifetime with Homer.

Seminar Leaders: Jason Happel and Reynaldo Miranda