Approaches to Teaching Homer's Odyssey
Published on 20. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
238 pages
978-1-60329-710-3 (ISBN)
Description
A guide to teaching the Odyssey through contemporary questions and approaches
Famous for its characters-the clever, unscrupulous Odysseus; the resilient, proud Penelope; and their young son, Telemachus, beginning his own life's journeys-the Odyssey is also well known as a set of fantastic tales and as a reflection of the ethos of Archaic Greece. This volume will help instructors introduce students to topics such as oral epic traditions, the relationship of the Odyssey to the Iliad, and kinship structures. It grapples directly with issues that concern instructors and students today, from the epic's value system and cultural norms to its portrayals of violence, slavery, and misogyny. Essays employ feminism, postcolonialism, and popular culture such as television, games, and comics and address a wide range of classrooms, from world literature courses to high schools and a prison. Readers will also learn about teaching responses to the Odyssey by writers from Dante to contemporary American poets.
This volume contains discussion of Dante's Inferno, Homer's Iliad, Linda Pastan's "On Re-reading the Odyssey in Middle Age," and Theocritus's "The Cyclops."
Famous for its characters-the clever, unscrupulous Odysseus; the resilient, proud Penelope; and their young son, Telemachus, beginning his own life's journeys-the Odyssey is also well known as a set of fantastic tales and as a reflection of the ethos of Archaic Greece. This volume will help instructors introduce students to topics such as oral epic traditions, the relationship of the Odyssey to the Iliad, and kinship structures. It grapples directly with issues that concern instructors and students today, from the epic's value system and cultural norms to its portrayals of violence, slavery, and misogyny. Essays employ feminism, postcolonialism, and popular culture such as television, games, and comics and address a wide range of classrooms, from world literature courses to high schools and a prison. Readers will also learn about teaching responses to the Odyssey by writers from Dante to contemporary American poets.
This volume contains discussion of Dante's Inferno, Homer's Iliad, Linda Pastan's "On Re-reading the Odyssey in Middle Age," and Theocritus's "The Cyclops."
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
340 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-60329-710-3 (9781603297103)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Content
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction, by Lillian E. Doherty
Part One: Materials
Classroom Texts
The Instructor's Library
Part Two: Approaches
The Odyssey and the Greek Epic Tradition
The Ends of the Odyssey, by Casey Due
The Odyssey and Epic Traditions, by Laura M. Slatkin
The Material Culture of Epic: Teaching the Odyssey with Greek Art, Architecture, and Archaeology, by Marya Fisher
Literary and Theoretical Approaches
Appreciating a Problematic Text, by Lillian E. Doherty
Epic Simile in the Odyssey: Figures of Journey and Homecoming, by Maria Fahey
Remaking Kinship: Reading the Odyssey after the Iliad, by Bruce M. King
Gender in the Odyssey: Significance and Ideology, by Rachel H. Lesser
Polyphemus and Postcolonialism: The Island of the Cyclopes in the Odyssey, by Kirsten Lodge
Maps, Movement, and "the Man": Cultural Exchange and Migration in the Odyssey and Today, by Jennifer R. Ballengee
Reception
Dante's Canto of Ulysses and Reception History, by Julie Van Peteghem
Reading the Odyssey with Modern Lyric, by Sheila Murnaghan
2001 Space Odysseys: Teaching the Odyssey with Pop Culture, by Brett M. Rogers
Classroom Contexts
Navigating the Odyssey with Ninth Graders, by Patricia Vreeland
The Emerging Outline: Character Analysis and the Odyssey, by Henry Alley
Odysseus, Masculinity, and the Paradox of Domesticity, by Jamie L. Brummer
The Odyssey Project: Teaching the Odyssey to Incarcerated Students, by Michael Morgan and Olga Faccani
Notes on Contributors
Survey Respondents
Works Cited
Preface
Introduction, by Lillian E. Doherty
Part One: Materials
Classroom Texts
The Instructor's Library
Part Two: Approaches
The Odyssey and the Greek Epic Tradition
The Ends of the Odyssey, by Casey Due
The Odyssey and Epic Traditions, by Laura M. Slatkin
The Material Culture of Epic: Teaching the Odyssey with Greek Art, Architecture, and Archaeology, by Marya Fisher
Literary and Theoretical Approaches
Appreciating a Problematic Text, by Lillian E. Doherty
Epic Simile in the Odyssey: Figures of Journey and Homecoming, by Maria Fahey
Remaking Kinship: Reading the Odyssey after the Iliad, by Bruce M. King
Gender in the Odyssey: Significance and Ideology, by Rachel H. Lesser
Polyphemus and Postcolonialism: The Island of the Cyclopes in the Odyssey, by Kirsten Lodge
Maps, Movement, and "the Man": Cultural Exchange and Migration in the Odyssey and Today, by Jennifer R. Ballengee
Reception
Dante's Canto of Ulysses and Reception History, by Julie Van Peteghem
Reading the Odyssey with Modern Lyric, by Sheila Murnaghan
2001 Space Odysseys: Teaching the Odyssey with Pop Culture, by Brett M. Rogers
Classroom Contexts
Navigating the Odyssey with Ninth Graders, by Patricia Vreeland
The Emerging Outline: Character Analysis and the Odyssey, by Henry Alley
Odysseus, Masculinity, and the Paradox of Domesticity, by Jamie L. Brummer
The Odyssey Project: Teaching the Odyssey to Incarcerated Students, by Michael Morgan and Olga Faccani
Notes on Contributors
Survey Respondents
Works Cited