Maybe Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster version of Homer’s Odyssey has inspired you to finally pick up the book. Or perhaps it’s sparked a healthy debate with friends over whether morals matter to our gods of industry and government these days? While classics experts have beef with various aspects of Nolan’s version of the epic, there’s no denying it brings attention to Homer’s work: Sales of The Odyssey are up 76%, per Publishers Weekly.
“I am glad that it is receiving a lot of attention,” says Erwin F. Cook, Murchison Distinguished Professor, in Trinity’s department of classical studies. “He has created an epic spectacle unlike any we have seen in many years, even if it is ‘Nolan’s Odyssey’ and not Homer’s.”
We asked Cook about the value of a classical studies major and why all of us should consider returning to Homer’s literature. His responses have been edited for length and clarity.
What is the value of revisiting The Odyssey 2,500 years after it was first shared?
Cook: The poems transmit cultural knowledge packaged as stories that Greeks would want to hear incessantly throughout their lives. The superhuman achievements of their heroes were models to emulate, and their equally enormous flaws serve as warnings: “nothing to excess,” or, differently put, “know yourself.” And since Greek culture and the realities of Greek life were relatively simple, the questions they asked were so very fundamental that they remain relevant, even urgent, today. That and its entertainment value helps explain why Homeric poetry continues to be read and taught.
A growing number of universities have reduced or eliminated classical studies and other humanities programs. But liberal arts universities like Trinity remain relatively strong supporters of classics. What do we gain by teaching the humanities?
Cook: The humanities and the skills they teach have never been more relevant. Classics require students to synthesize complex evidence from a wide variety of disciplines. A goal of such endeavors is creative problem solving, and a deeper understanding of involuted issues or situations. Combining these syntheses in writing analytical and argumentative essays also trains students to think and communicate complex issues clearly to others.
It also inoculates them against manipulation by social media and biased news reporting, all of which falls under the traditional rubrics of critical and strategic thought and moral reasoning, which are generally recognized as among the chief benefits of a Humanities degree, and this is particularly true of one in Classical Studies here at Trinity.
I can say from personal experience that I have learned to be a more empathetic person as a result of reading classical literature and a better teacher for it.
What makes the classics at Trinity enduring?
Cook: I do not see Classical Studies in jeopardy at Trinity, and there are several reasons for this. Above all, our faculty are committed teachers, determined to make the classics relevant to our students in their professional and personal lives. But we are also well recognized in the field as one of the best classics programs at any small liberal arts university. This is good for the university’s reputation and ensures that what students learn is informed and up to date. Of course, my department is grateful to the administration for their recognition of our efforts and their unflagging support.
Who should read The Odyssey?
Cook: I think anyone who likes to read good literature is going to enjoy reading it. The Odyssey is especially good at creating unforgettable images that continually stimulate the imagination without it being possible to arrive at a single idea that adequately expresses it.
The Odyssey never answers questions; it provokes them. Take the Cyclops, for example. He is obviously a symbol of brute and bestial strength in a story where intelligence triumphs over force. He has also been understood in Freudian terms as ‘the father’ with Odysseus as ‘the son.’ Or their conflict as nature versus culture: I like this one because Odysseus almost dies when his emotions get in the way of his intelligence and he nearly kills the Cyclops in his sleep. If he had, Odysseus would have also died because he couldn’t have moved the rock that the Cyclops used to close the mouth of the cave. So, nature dukes it out with culture in his own psyche in the form of emotion versus intelligence. More than that, culture cannot kill nature, but must ‘trick’ it into performing tasks on which culture’s survival depends.
After 2,500 years we are still finding new and valuable ways of understanding the image and the story, and we will continue to do so for the next 2,500. Myths are not simply fictions. They encode cultural values in stories that are entertaining and memorable.