January, 2009

Just holding The Odyssey makes my task feel daunting. It’s 350 pages of people who may have existed traveling back from a war that may have happened, and most of their adventures probably aren’t close to what really happened. The chance for boredom slaps me. I’d say that cracking the spine is like staring off a cliff, but the cliff offers two definitive options — walk away or jump — while Homer presents the third, even scarier choice of the slow fizzle of enthusiasm that leads to Cliff’s Notes.