Christopher Hitchens Explains Why Homer’s Odyssey Still Matters to Our World (2000)

At the moment, the answer to the question of why we should read Homer’s Odyssey seems rather straightforward: so we can more intelligently voice our opinions on Christopher Nolan’s new blockbuster film adaptation. A quarter-century ago, the matter was somewhat less clear. Still, an occasion had presented itself in the form of a new English translation, by University of Kansas classics professor Stanley Lombardo. That book, and the work of Homer in general, was the subject of a l