Ave! On question #1: Odysseus is in a situation that he is totally helpless. His situation also points to an exile and exile is a hard thing in his times. These two points might help in understanding Odysseus' tears.
On question #2: His name, I think, came from his relatives after a hunting episode where a boar attacked him but he managed to kill the boar. So, I think, Odysseus is a name that denotes "trouble". He is trouble. Vale, Ariel >From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Feb 11 13:01:50 1999 >Received: ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) by wilsoninet.com (8.8.5) id NAA22569; Thu, 11 Feb 1999 13:26:16 -0700 (MST) >Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 12:26:17 -0800 >Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Version 2.1.1 >Mime-Version: 1.0 >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: Jack Kolb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: VIRGIL: Helen's Abduction >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Precedence: bulk >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >This fascinating (and to me educational) discussion emboldens me--who knows >only a little Latin, and no Greek--to ask three questions which are outside >the parameters of Virgil. The first is slightly analogous to the Helen >question. > >1. Is Odysseus supposed to be held by Calypso entirely against his will? >In other words, is he, during the years of captivity, constantly pining to >return to Ithaca, and a reluctant "sex slave"? Or does he succumb to the >charms of the nymph? I'm especially interested in classical commentators on >this issue. > >2. Is the derivation of Odysseus' name in any way connected with the wound >he received as a youth? One of my older and brighter students in one of my >Joyce classes told me he had heard this, but couldn't supply a source. > >3. Years ago I was told that the phrase used by Nixon's vice-president, >Spiro Agnew, to characterize the conservative heart of America, the "silent >majority," was a tag that Homer used to describe the dead. Is this true? > >Many thanks in advance for the collective wisdom of the list. > >Jack Kolb >Dept. of English, UCLA >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. >Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message >"unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You >can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
