Literary Lecture Series: Homer's Odyssey

This dynamic series invites participants to explore masterpieces of world literature that illuminate timeless questions of politics, power, psychology, and human imagination. Together we'll read literary masterpieces with fresh eyes for our current moment. Through lively discussion, these courses connect ancient and modern voices across cultures, offering insight into enduring struggles of justice, freedom, and truth. No prior knowledge of any language but English is required.  Additional details for each class are available at www.sfcc.augusoft.net.    

For a few hundred years, Greek bards orally refined rhythmic songs and stories. Then, in about the 8th century BCE, Homer’s Odyssey was written down. The Odyssey is an epic song of adventures, loves, lies, ironies, myths, horror stories, violence, and constant lyrical beauty. It describes a radically changing Greek world with a wily and dangerous kind of hero called Odysseus. Splendid recent translations absorb and delight, with or without knowledge of Greek. The Odyssey is incredibly fun to read and talk about.