Product Description

Everyone knows something about Odysseus: how he defeated the Trojans in a surprise attack with a massive wooden horse, wandered the Mediterranean seas for years trying to get home and confronted the Cyclop. Odysseus turns up everywhere from Homer's original epics, Tennyson's poem "Ulysses" and Joyce's literary masterpiece of the same name, to the recent Coen brothers film O Brother Where Art Thou, which was based on his adventures. But no one has until now chronicled Odysseus's life from start to finish. In this entertaining "biography", Beye does just that.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1518615 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

Entertaining interpertation on the Odysseus myth
This is an interesting interpretation of the Odysseus myth. Beyes, an American college professor with enough credentials and degrees to show that he knows what he's talking about, takes the view that the whole Odysseus myth is just that, a myth that's fictional. However, in this "biography", Beyes tells of Odysseus' life story in a modern day biography style. The book is divided into 5 chapters: Prince, Warrior, Wanderer, Lover, and King. Drawing from various ancient sources (which Beyes have conveninetly listed in the book) Beyes' ultimate aim is to analyse Odysseus' characteristic. We discover that Odysseus is a figure who craves control and order, yet in a society which constantly gets thrown into chaos by the constant interruptions by gods, this is near impossible. The book is a refreshing read in it's attempt to provide a modern view on ancient events. Beyes provides a contemporary and often layman's view of these ancient events. The result of this is Beyes avoids writing a heavy going text but that is not dumbed down completely. Beyes does get a bit carried away with the raunchier aspects of Odysseus' life, but I guess life in ancient Greece was more exciting than our modern times.