The greatest book never written. Reading the Odyssey is very like reading Dante and Shakespeare, in that it is a lifelong pursuit. It gets better as your learn

The greatest book never written. Reading the Odyssey is very like reading Dante and Shakespeare, in that it is a lifelong pursuit. It gets better as your learn about the oral tradition, the Homer question. Read Victor Berard and Julian Jaynes. Read Omeros by Derek Walcott. You can meditate you whole life on how to translate one word, "polymetis". In my experience, the translator's choice with that one word determines the trajectory (and quality) of the epic in their hands. Our whole culture is so shot through with the effects of these works that it is virtually incomprehensible, even to those who devote their lives to the study. I guess my point is that it is not like reading a 'novel'. It is a work that has shaped, and actively shapes, us as humans.