ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, πολύτροπον, ὃς μάλα πολλὰ
Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns.
So begins Homer’s Odyssey, perhaps the most foundational work of Western literature, told and retold in every generation. What accounts for the epic poem’s longevity? What is it about the Odyssey that has attracted the likes of Plato and Aristotle, Aeschylus and Sophocles, Virgil and Ovid, Basil and Dante, Thomas More and Shakespeare, Milton and Tennyson, Joyce and Eliot, Rubens and Dalí, the Coen Brothers and now Christopher Nolan? And yet, despite millennia of artistic reflection, Homer’s Odysseus remains as enigmatic as ever. Nevertheless, this year’s Lectio Humana A Man of Many Ways: A Journey Through Homer’s Odyssey will try to decipher Odysseus by a close reading of the epic poem, alongside excerpts from some of the great plays, poems, paintings, and films that Odysseus has inspired for over 28 centuries.
Among the many questions Homer poses in the Odyssey, Lectio Humana will seek to address the following. What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be an adult and how do you become one? What qualities make for a good leader? What qualifies as civilization? What do you consider home, and what would you be willing to sacrifice for it? What are the limits of hospitality, and why should you be hospitable? What makes for a good marriage? What happens after death? Is it better to be dead or alive in a world of hardship and suffering?
So join us each Friday afternoon for Lectio Humana, The Man of Many Ways: A Journey Through Homer’s Odyssey, as we endure an arduous adventure through Siren and Cyclops, Scylla and Charybdis, Circe and Calypso to find our way home.
Dates: Friday afternoons in the fall, 3:00 - 4:00 PM
Location: PRRUCS Space, Fox-Fels Leadership Hall (3814 Walnut St, University City)
Questions? Please contact Joe Perez-Benzo (jperezbenzo@collegiuminstitute.org).