A Long and Difficult Journey, or The Odyssey: Crash Course Literature 201
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Video Rating: 4 / 5
In which +John Green teaches you about Homer’s Odyssey. If it was Homer’s.
If Homer was even real. Anyway, that stuff doesn’t really matter. John
teaches you the classic, by which I mean classical, epic poem, the Odyssey.
The Journey of Odysseus as he made his way home after the conclusion of the
Trojan War is the stuff of legend. Literally. John will teach you about the
double standard in Greek culture, Odysseus as jerk/hero, ancient PTSD, and
cycles of violence. Also, there are no yogurt jokes. So think of that as a
gift.
Our Subbable lead sponsor this week is Damian Shaw, who wants to thank
Bryonie, Stew, Maureen, Peter & Morgan for their support.
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A Long and Difficult Journey, or The Odyssey: Crash Course Literature 201
+CrashCourse Literature is back! We return with A Long and Difficult
Journey, or The Odyssey. A Long and Difficult Journey, or The Odyssey:
Crash Course Literature 201
I stopped paying attention when they started feasting on the goat
cheese..lol Good episode, John.
That’s one hecka slick intro! :D
Just talked about Greek religion on Tuesday, and then I ran across this
retelling of The Odyssey. Be careful, it is a bit racy, as was Homer’s
writing. (+Renee Dykes)
Book tip : Inge Merkel, *Odysseus and Penelope: An Ordinary Marriage*.
Tells the story from Penelope’s point of view.
Patriarchy is not an entity, John Green. You cannot address Patriarchy as
you would a person. This ceased to be academic and educational video the
moment you brought your views regarding feminism into the picture.
You did it again, John. Made a video about just what I needed the day
before the test I had it on.
When it comes to sleeping around, you have to think about heirs.
If a man sleeps around you can be pretty sure that the one who gives birth
isn’t his actual wife, therefore no inheritance issues.
If a woman sleeps around, well, how are you to know it’s actually the man’s
child & heir? You could be handing your kingdom over to the son of another
ruler or something.
Who’d want to marry their son into a kingdom where he can’t be sure if his
kids are his own? It’d be a diplomatic annoyance to say the least, could
ruin all sorts of alliances in a time when things often revolved around
personal relationship between rulers.
As for why it happens with the common folk, well, people usually try to
emulate their social superiors, hence fashions and what not.
Also, I don’t really agree with this as a criticism of Oddyseus at all, he
was sort of forced into those situations.
Or how about just talk about the literature and not impose any values,
morals, or politics since everyone has an opinion? Science should be about
science, history should be about history and literature should be about
literature. If this were about politics then we would discuss politics.
Like John mentioned The Odyssey wasn’t written but instead composed and
sung before the aid of the alphabet. In fact those texts that were shown in
the video are likely the original transcriptions of the poems which were
done sometime in the sixth or seventh century BCE. This idea, that the
greeks could compose literature without the written word was a
controversial one when first proposed by Milman Parry, a structural
linguist, in the 1930’s. Parry studied the the meter and repetitive,
redundant language proving that the structure of the poem was first and
foremost an aid to memory the purpose of which was to ferry the strongest
memes of culture across generations. (Ironically we would have lost the
poem and the culture there in if it hadn’t been written down… yay
information technology!)
Arg Feminism… Stop pandering to your majority female audience Jon
“To love a book you have to know about the author” (paraphrasing) That’s an
interesting statement. It’s an issue I’ve wrestled with before. If you
don’t like the author, are his/her books tainted? Everyone has to consider
that question. To me, if the author’s actions/beliefs are so against my own
sense of right and wrong then the answer is yes. I can accept some
disagreement, but there are limits. If someone else has a different
opinion, I won’t argue. It’s a matter of taste.
how do you make all those animations?
As a classics major and a feminist, I officially proclaim this video the
best thing ever.
In the book, talks about but after the war is over, violence still
continues. Odysseus did the right thing to keep thinking about his wife,
despite bloodshed and violence surrounding him. For me, he is a hero and he
did what no other Greek soldier did. A man of courage, promise and
determination.
After this, you should do Crash Course; Shakespeare. Each episode dedicated
to each of his 36 plays!
Y’know, I read a theory that the Iliad and the Odyssey were Greek
re-tellings of an actual war that didn’t take place in the Aegean, but in
the North Sea. Evidence to this end include the fact that the Troy that
existed around the time that the Trojan War took place is both smaller and
less impressive than most of the settlements before and after it on that
site, the fact that the Plains surrounding Troy in the poem don’t fit well
with the actual physical geography of northwestern Turkey, and Homer making
reference to several things in the poem that don’t exist in the
Mediterranean Basin, most notably tides.
I see issues with the open letter from my thoughts as both an MRA and a
feminist, but I feel like I’d get flamed to oblivion if I tried to mention
anything, and I’d probably screw it up and say something I didn’t mean
because I am horrible with words.
Will this be banned because of the nude paintings?
On sexual double standards,
A lock which opens with every key is a shit lock
A key that opens every lock is a master key.
In regards to the Cyclops part, you kind of described it right, but
Odysseus technically showed good xenia (guest manners) according to his
culture, but because the cyclops is you know… a cyclops, he doesn’t
believe in these traditions, nor does he believe in the same Gods and tries
to eat them, so the cyclops was in the wrong.
Not very good with cliff noting literature john. Telling what the story is,
is a great idea, alienating part of your listeners with personal thoughts
as to the meaning. Not one of the better tellings of this story. I
personally would rather have you tell it in a matter that would encourage
someone to read it for themselves, rather than breed more harsh feelings
amongst some.
Is it just me, or is Odysseus John riding a Norse Longboat? And by this I
don’t mean the carving on the back of the ship, but how small it is and
shallow compared to the size of John.
Hey John! Have you read the “Epic of Giglamesh?” it’s a really intresting
story which dates before the Bible! It’s reguarded as the first written
work of literature!