Category: Books
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Penelope Speaks — And I Finally Know How to Listen
There is a specific kind of reading experience that only happens when you have already done the work. Not reading more books, necessarily — but doing the reading inside yourself that prepares you to receive what a book is offering. I had that experience once already in this journey, when a copy of The Penelopiad…
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Standing at the Edge: A Reflection on Homer
This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. I’ve just closed The Odyssey, and I’m sitting here with that particular kind of quiet that follows a long journey — not restlessness, not exactly satisfaction, but something closer to arrival. The Iliad and The Odyssey…
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Rilke and His Encouragement then and for Now
There’s something about sitting with a cappuccino that invites honesty. Maybe it’s the warmth, or the quiet ritual of holding something steady while everything else feels uncertain. Gathered here around this table—books half-open, notes scattered, maybe absently tracing the rim of my cup—and the conversation turns, almost inevitably, to Rilke. Specifically, Letters to a Young…
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The Full Arc of Transformation
Circle of Jacques-Louis David, French, 1748–1825. Calliope Mourning Homer, 1812. Oil on canvas. Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop, 1943.231. Personal photography. This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. “Who are you? Where are you from? Your city?…
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When Ithaca Becomes a Mirror: Transformation of the Home
Personal photography. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Greek and Roman Galleries. This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. So, what did I carry into Book 13? A tension of how faithfulness in a marriage may have been viewed in the Bronze Age, but…
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Was It Wander… Lust? — The Longing Beneath the Map
Painter of the Boston Polyphemos, Greek (Athens), Archaic period, about 550 BC. Drinking cup (kylix) with Circe transforming Odysseus’s men. Ceramic, black-figure technique. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Accession 99.518. Personal photography. This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. Book 11 stopped me.…
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Longing for Home When Everything Else Looks Easier
Aison, Greek (Athens), Classical period, about 420 BC. Cosmetics container (pyxis) depicting the meeting of Odysseus and Nausikaa. Ceramic, red-figure technique. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Accession 04.18a-b. Personal photography. This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. In my last post, we sat…
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Journey as Transformation
Personal photography. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gallery 215A — Homer and the Epic Tradition. This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. The saying goes, “You can never go home again.” I’ve been thinking that’s only half the trouble. You don’t have to…
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A Return to Homer: On with The Odyssey
This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. The Literary Spine brought me first to The Iliad — and having finished it ahead of schedule, I arrived at The Odyssey right on time, returning to the windswept shores, the restless seas, and the long…
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The Iliad – A Fresh Retrospective
This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. It reaches across 2,700 years and finds you where you live. If you’re just joining this journey, I’d invite you to visit the Table of Contents linked at the top of this post.. If you have…
The Curious Table 