In my Great Books class, we just finished reading selections from the Hebrew Bible and are now getting started on the Odyssey. Funny how none of the marriages of the Jewish patriarchs have inspired me with hopeful visions for my own upcoming marriage! What a relief, then to leave behind those abysmally dysfunctional relationships and turn to the Odyssey. Odysseus and Penelope have far from a perfect marriage, and there's plenty to criticize, but I have always loved Odysseus' wish for Nausicaa in Book 6:
"And may the good gods give you all your heart desires:Odysseus has experienced every glory of the battlefield and every victory of the intellect, and yet he defines the greatest gift in the world as marital harmony. Love it!
husband, and house, and lasting harmony too.
No finer, greater gift in the world than that...
when man and woman possess their home, two minds,
two hearts that work as one. Despair to their enemies,
a joy to all their friends. Their own best claim to glory." (Fagles' translation)
tru dat. as is said in our house, "when the Flower is unhappy, EVERYONE is unhappy"!
ReplyDeletedo you like the new blog format? i changed it because you complained.
DeleteSo ahead of his time! :)
ReplyDeletegood job with the new format ;)
ReplyDeleteI love this great books update!!!!
(I am so curious about the students, after that first post you did about them! any interesting comments from them?? hehe)
no, i think they've stopped doing the reading. they remind me so much of myself when i was a freshman -- sitting around a seminar table, falling ASLEEP into my book, RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE PROF. ;)
Delete"despair to their enemies"-- i wouldn't have thought of this when thinking about couples as a team, but love it!!!
ReplyDeletehehee, i think that's my favorite part! ;)
Deletethis is very lovely! and i too like the new blog format.
ReplyDelete