Editing Odysseus (section)

=== Modern literature ===

==== Poetry ====

In her poem {{ws|[[s:Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837/Site of the Castle of Ulysses|Site of the Castle of Ulysses]]}} (published in 1836), [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]] gives her version of ''The Song of the Sirens'' with an explanation of its purpose, structure and meaning. This illustrates a painting by [[Charles Bentley (painter)|Charles Bentley]] engraved by R. Sands, and showing The Black Mountains of [[Cephalonia]] in the background.<ref>{{cite book|last=Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=39BbAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PA42|section=poetical illustration|pages=18-19|year=1836|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.|access-date=5 December 2022|archive-date=5 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205220157/https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=39BbAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PA42|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last=Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=39BbAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PA44section=picture|year=1836|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.|access-date=5 December 2022|archive-date=5 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205220158/https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=39BbAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PA44section=picture|url-status=live}}</ref> A further poetical illustration, also in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837, is to an engraving of a painting by [[Charles Bentley (painter)|Charles Bentley]], {{ws|[[s:Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837/Town and Harbour of Ithaca|Town and Harbour of Ithaca]]}} and harks back to the island 'where Ulysses was king'.<ref>{{cite book|last=Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=39BbAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PA160|section=picture|year=1836|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.|access-date=9 December 2022|archive-date=9 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221209202628/https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=39BbAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PA160|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last=Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=39BbAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PA162|section=poetical illustration|pages=47-48|year=1836|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.|access-date=9 December 2022|archive-date=9 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221209202627/https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=39BbAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PA162|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]]'s poem "[[Ulysses (poem)|Ulysses]]" (published in 1842) presents an aging king who has seen too much of the world to be happy sitting on a throne idling his days away. Leaving the task of civilizing his people to his son, he gathers together a band of old comrades "to sail beyond the sunset".

[[Nikos Kazantzakis]]'s ''[[The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel]]'' (1938), a 33,333-line epic poem, begins with Odysseus cleansing his body of the blood of [[Penelope]]'s suitors. Odysseus soon leaves Ithaca in search of new adventures. Before his death he abducts Helen, incites revolutions in [[Crete]] and [[Egypt]], communes with God, and meets representatives of such famous historical and literary figures as [[Vladimir Lenin]], [[Alonso Quijano|Don Quixote]] and Jesus.

In 1986, Irish poet [[Eilean Ni Chuilleanain]] published "The Second Voyage", a poem in which she makes use of the story of Odysseus.

==== Novels ====

[[File:Bay of Palaiokastritsa from Bellavista.JPG|thumb|The bay of [[Palaiokastritsa]] in [[Corfu]] as seen from Bella vista of Lakones, considered to be the place where Odysseus disembarked and met [[Nausicaa]] for the first time. The rock in the sea near the horizon at the top centre-left is held by the locals to be the mythical petrified ship of Odysseus.]]

[[Frederick Rolfe]]'s ''The Weird of the Wanderer'' (1912) has the hero Nicholas Crabbe (based on the author) travelling back in time, discovering that he is the reincarnation of Odysseus, marrying Helen, being deified and ending up as one of the three [[Biblical Magi|Magi]].

[[James Joyce]]'s novel ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]'' (first published 1918–1920) uses modern literary devices to narrate a single day in the life of a Dublin businessman named [[Leopold Bloom]]. Bloom's day bears many elaborate parallels to Odysseus's ten years of wandering.

''[[Return to Ithaca (novel)|Return to Ithaca]]'' (1946) by [[Eyvind Johnson]] is a more realistic retelling of the events that adds a deeper psychological study of the characters of Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus. Thematically, it uses Odysseus's backstory and struggle as a metaphor for dealing with the aftermath of war (the novel being written immediately after the end of the Second World War).<ref name="Nordgren 2004">{{cite journal |last1=Nordgren |first1=Elisabeth |title=Sommarklassiker: Med fokus på det närvarande. Eyvind Johnson: Strändernas svall, Bonniers 2004 |journal=Lysmasken |date=14 July 2004 |url=http://www.kiiltomato.net/?rcat=Muu+kirjallisuus&rid=811&lang=swe |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040901194345/http://www.kiiltomato.net/?rcat=Muu+kirjallisuus&rid=811&lang=swe |archive-date=1 September 2004 |language=Swedish}}</ref>

In the eleventh chapter of [[Primo Levi]]'s 1947 memoir ''[[If This Is a Man]]'', "The Canto of Ulysses", the author describes the last voyage of Ulysses as told by [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] in ''[[Inferno (Dante)|The Inferno]]'' to a fellow-prisoner during forced labour in the Nazi concentration camp [[Auschwitz]].

Odysseus is the hero of ''The Luck of Troy'' (1961) by [[Roger Lancelyn Green]], whose title refers to the theft of the [[Palladium (mythology)|Palladium]].

In [[S. M. Stirling]]'s ''[[Island in the Sea of Time]]'' (1998), first part to his [[Nantucket series]] of [[alternate history]] novels, Odikweos ("Odysseus" in [[Mycenaean Greek]]) is a "historical" figure who is every bit as cunning as his legendary self and is one of the few [[Bronze Age]] inhabitants who discerns the time-travellers' real background. Odikweos first aids William Walker's rise to power in [[Achaea]] and later helps bring Walker down after seeing his homeland turn into a [[police state]].

''[[The Penelopiad]]'' (2005) by [[Margaret Atwood]] retells his story from the point of view of his wife [[Penelope]].

[[Rick Riordan|Rick Riordan's]] novel series ''[[Percy Jackson & the Olympians]]'', which centres on the presence of Greek mythology in the 21st century, incorporates several elements from Odysseus's story. The second novel in particular, ''[[The Sea of Monsters]]'' (2006), is a loose adaptation of ''The Odyssey'', with protagonists Percy and Annabeth seeking to save their satyr friend Grover from Polyphemus, and facing many of the same obstacles Odysseus faced over the course of the journey.

[[Volodymyr Yermolenko]], Ukrainian philosopher and essayist, wrote ''Ocean Catcher: The Story of Odysseus'', Stary Lev, 2017, which is loose adaptation of The Odyssey, where after coming back home to Ithaca, where he cannot find either Penelope or [[Telemachus]], he decides to have a reverse trip to Troy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yermolenko |first=Volodymyr |title=Ловець океану : Історія Одіссея |publisher=Lviv: Old Lion Publishing House |year=2017 |isbn=9786176793717 |location=Lviv |publication-date=2017 |pages=216 |language=Ukrainian |trans-title=Ocean Catcher: The Story of Odysseus}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ловець океану Володимир Єрмоленко купити у ВСЛ |url=https://starylev.com.ua/lovec-okeanu |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=Видавництво Старого Лева |language=uk}}</ref>

==== Literary criticism ====

The literary theorist [[Núria Perpinyà]] conceived twenty different interpretations of the ''Odyssey'' in a 2008 study.<ref>Núria Perpinyà (2008): ''The Crypts of Criticism: Twenty Readings of The Odyssey'' (Spanish original: ''Las criptas de la crítica: veinte lecturas de la Odisea'', Madrid, Gredos).</ref>