Some notes on Mitchell's notes on The Odyssey

Some comments on Stephen Mitchell's intro to his translation of The Odyssey: great that he, too, read an abridged v. as a youth and was taken by this fabulous story of monsters, giants, and mysterious civilizations in distant islands - yes, me too. Mitchell makes a shrewd remark that the odyssey within the Odyssey is like Odysseus' own epic poem, that there's no verification for it and that it may be a fantasy or tall tale within the work, nestled like Russian dolls - which leads to discussion of the seductive power of art and poetry - the call of the Sirens is analogous to the spell that epic poets cast on their audience. Also he notes that Odysseus is not a conventional Greek hero, in fact that he's somewhat unmanly: his interest in words and language and craft, so different from the purely physical Achilles et al., even his use of a bow and arrow rather than the more "manly" direct combat - but I'm not convinced of this, as there are many descriptions of his extraordinary strength and powerful physique. He notes that the Odyssey probably not written by that same "Homer" who wrote the Iliad, as the styles are each distinct and different - maybe so, but we'll never know for sure; mostly it's amazing to have two such powerful works from the same era still with us today and accessible. He also points out as have others that the Trojan Horse is never mentioned in the Iliad. He cites Aristotle's one paragraph summary of the plot, noting that the rest is "episode" - very true, it's all in the telling, and he notes that interpolated episodes of epic narration move O to tears, he's the most sensitive of the characters. The two tropes behind this narrative, he notes, are the return of the rightful king and the homeward journey - from the moment we meet O., he is in mourning for his homeland, and even willing to give up eternal life and youth with a beautiful goddess in order to return to Ithaca.