Episode 4: Book 4 and Suzuki’s The Metamorphoses of Helen

The main readings for this episode were Books 4 of the Odyssey and Mihoko Suzuki’s 1989 book The Metamorphoses of Helen: Authority, Difference and the Epic.

Next time, September 1, we will read Book 5 of the Odyssey and Jonathan Shay’s 2002 book Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming.

Books mentioned in this episode:

Clayton, Barbara. A Penelopean Poetics: Reweaving the Feminine in Homer’s Odyssey. Lexington Books, New York, 1992.

de Jong, Irene. A Narratological Commentary on the Odyssey. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 2001.

Derrida, Jacques. “Plato’s Pharmacy” in Dissemination. By Jacques Derrida, translated by Barbara Johnson, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981.

Kajillionaire. Directed by Miranda July, performances by Evan Rachel Wood and Debra Winger, Plan B Entertainment, 2020.

Hartocollis, Anemona. “New College of Florida Was Progressive. Then Gov. DeSantis Overhauled It”. New York Times, December 28, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/us/new-college-ron-desantis-florida-conservative.html?smid=url-share

West, Stephanie. “Commentary on Book 4” in A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey: Volume I: Introduction and Books I-VIII. Edited by Alfred Heubeck, Stephanie West and J.B. Hainsworth. Oxford University Press, Oxford: 1998.

Ancient poetry mention:

• Theocritus, Idyll 18

The main readings for this episode were Book 3 of the Odyssey and F.A. Wolf’s The Prolegomena to Homer. It was written in Latin 1795. It was translated into English with an introduction and notes by Anthony Grafton, Glenn Most and James Zetzel in 1985.

Next time, August 15, we will read Book 4 of the Odyssey, and the relevant chapters from Mihoko Suzuki’s The Metamorphoses of Helen: Authority, Difference and the Epic.

Books mentioned in this episode:

West, Stephanie. “Transmission of the Text” in A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey: Volume I: Introduction and Books I-VIII. Edited by Alfred Heubeck, Stephanie West and J.B. Hainsworth. Oxford University Press, Oxford: 1998.

Wolf, F.A. The Prolegomena to Homer. Translated by, introduction by and notes by Anthony Grafton, Glenn W. Most and James E.G. Zetzel. Princeton University Press, Princeton: 1985.

The main book for this episode was Milman Parry’s ”The Traditional Epithet in Homer”. This was written in French in 1928 as his dissertation from the Sorbonne. It was translated into English in 1971 by his son Adam Parry as part of the volume The Making of Homeric Verse.

Next time, for Book 3, we will read F.A. Wolf’s Prolegomena to Homer. It was originally published in Latin in 1795 and translated into English by Anthony Grafton, Glenn W. Most and James E.G. Zetzel in 1985.

Books mentioned:

Atwood, Margaret. The Penelopiad. Canongate, Edinburgh: 2005.

de Jong, Irene. A Narratological Commentary on the Odyssey. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 2001.

Kanigel, Robert. Hearing Homer’s Song: The Brief Life and Big Idea of Milman Parry. Alfred A. Knopf, New York: 2021.

Lord, Albert. The Singer of Tales. Third Edition, edited by David F. Elmer. Center for Hellenic Studies, Cambridge Massachusetts: 2018.

Parry, Milman. “The Traditional Epithet in Homer” in The Making of the Homeric Verse: The Collected Papers of Milman Parry. Edited and translated by Adam Parry. Oxford University Press, Oxford: 1971.

In this episode, Tristan and Noah read book 1 of the Odyssey and Albert Lord's Singer of Tales.

Texts referenced in this episode:

Bandersnatch. Directed by David Slade, House of Tomorrow and Netflix, 2018. Netflix, netflix.com

Heubeck, Alfred, Stephanie West and J.B. Hainsworth. A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey: Volume I: Introduction and Books I-VIII. Oxford University Press, Oxford: 1998.

Lord, Albert. The Singer of Tales. Third Edition, edited by David F. Elmer. Center for Hellenic Studies, Cambridge Massachusetts: 2018.

You do NOT need to have read the Odyssey to get something from this podcast, but it is encouraged! Tristan and Noah read the poem in the original Greek and alternate which translations we use in each episode. We also sometimes translate passages ourselves.

For episode 2, we are reading Book 2 of the Odyssey and also The Traditional Epithet in Homer by Milman Parry.