The Raft of Odysseus : The Ethnographic Imagination of Homer's Odyssey

The Raft of Odysseus looks at the fascinating intersection of traditional myth with an enthnographically-viewed Homeric world. Carol Dougherty argues that the resourcefulness of Odysseus as an adventurer on perilous seas served as an example to Homer's society which also had to adjust in inventive ways to turbulent conditions. The fantastic adventures of Odysseus act as a prism for the experiences of Homer's own listeners—traders, seafarers, storytellers, soldiers—and give us a glimpse into their own world of hopes and fears, 500 years after the Iliadic events were supposed to have happened. "In this study, Carol Dougherty offers an interpretation of the Homeric poem rooted in the topics of overseas travel, trade, and settlement that dominated the early archaic period in Greece. The Raft of Odysseus approaches the poem both as literary fiction and as an ethnographic text - the product of a culture trying to construct a reading of its own mythic past in order to make sense of a tumultuous present. Odysseus, the man who has "seen the cities of many men and learned their minds," embodies the poem's ethnographic imagination. His extensive travels overseas expose him to a broad spectrum of new worlds and customs, and his successful return integrates these experiences abroad into the Greek world at home."--Résumé de l'éditeur "In this study, Carol Dougherty offers an interpretation of the Homeric poem rooted in the topics of overseas travel, trade, and settlement that dominated the early archaic period in Greece. The Raft of Odysseus approaches the poem both as literary fiction and as an ethnographic text - the product of a culture trying to construct a reading of its own mythic past in order to make sense of a tumultuous present. Odysseus, the man who has "seen the cities of many men and learned their minds," embodies the poem's ethnographic imagination. His extensive travels overseas expose him to a broad spectrum of new worlds and customs, and his successful return integrates these experiences abroad into the Greek world at home."--Jacket The Raft of Odysseus looks at the fascinating intersection of traditional myth with an enthnographically-viewed Homeric world. Carol Dougherty argues that the resourcefulness of Odysseus as an adventurer on perilous seas served as an example to Homer's society which also had to adjust in inventive ways to turbulent conditions. The fantastic adventures of Odysseus act as a prism for the experiences of Homer's own listeners--traders, seafarers, storytellers, soldiers--and give us a glimpse into their own world of hopes and fears, 500 years after the Iliadic events were supposed to have happened.