Metablogicon: The Beggar-King of Ithaca

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The Beggar-King of Ithaca

They ask Irus, Old Beggar, to kill Odysseus, New Beggar. It's like a cock fight, but then Dwayne shows up again and reveals his "rippling thighs" (76-81). Like Brennick. Then he wins. WHICH SHOULD PROBABLY TIP OFF THE SUITORS. Buuut they're pretty stupid. Which, by the way, is supported by the fact that they didn't realize, for three years, that Penelope was tricking them by unraveling Laertes' shroud. Duh.

This girl from my work, when she saw what I was reading, agrees that Fagles' translation is really funny. It's so... frank. Like lines 18.100-101. Cripes. And suddenly! There is foul language! and wenches (362-381)! And baldness (400-403)!

Also, more thrown stools (444). What is that? Is that a common mode of defense? Of releasing anger?

(I read through this stuff pretty quickly... so I don't have much to say, because I had to go through it again to write down some stuff. Sorry.)

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Hello and welcome. We would love to have you comment and join in our little conversation, so long as you order your discussion alongside ours. So please... no solicitation, no trolling, keep it civil, rational, and vaguely on topic. Check your lolcats at the door. Thank you!

What's going on here?

We are, however humbly, parochially, and hampered by other pursuits, attempting to converse about ideas. We have in mind the enduring ideas from the “great conversation" of the heritage given to us by thinkers from the West. It is incomplete, imperfect, and poor. If you were looking for wisdom, I suggest turning to the authors themselves. The artifice here merely attempts to discipline ourselves into reading consistently, and thinking logically, and expressing any insights gained in a clear arrangement.

What remains posted here comes from many sources. A group of us read through Homer's Odyssey and commented on it. We also set up a discussion group over the Heritage 101 video course from Hillsdale College. Each has been suspended in favor of more pressing concerns from daily vocation, but the tools remain for another discussion in the future.