- An Odyssey of Storytelling -

The Odyssey, Book 9 | Homer

Prompt: Compose a multi-modal composition about "story telling" inspired by Professor Giannopoulo’s lectures

In what ways does "story telling" happen or play a meaningful role in the encounter between Odysseus and Polyphemus? In your life? Your favorite media forms? At UCI?

❝ You realize how much of an idiot Odysseus is, and the Odyssey becomes fun to read. ❞ — Anonymous, 2024

The above is a quote from a friend of mine, in a conversation we had before I began reading The Odyssey.

And I must say, they were absolutely right.

Odysseus: A Prideful, Cunning Bastard

Greek vase painting of Odysseus and his men driving a stake into the eye of the Cyclops Polyphemus. (I wish I could find a high-quality version of this image.)

Credit: the Musée du Louvre, via the Theoi Project

♫♪ how i cannot commit to reality, when my third eye’s open and i like what i see. ♫♪

First eye - Odysseus (first-hand accounts)

Second eye - Homer (recorded the story/tale)

We, the reader, are the third eye. So, let's find out what we see in the Odyssey, shall we?

Context

Book 9 of the Odyssey is a story within a story.

Odysseus, finding his fate in the hands of the Phaeacians, must somehow convince them to help him return home. To accomplish this, he attempts to sell himself as a hero using a story—his fateful encounter with the Cyclops in the one-eyed giant’s cave.

Roman marble statue of Odysseus by an unknown artist, dated 2nd century AD.

Credit: Museo Archeologico Nazionale, photographed by Mark Landon, via Wikimedia Commons

// Odysseus the Storyteller

How do you make yourself appear as the good guy?

That's the question Odysseus faced. So, let's examine how he does it, shall we?

Step 1: Praise the host.

Odysseus begins his story with flattering words to the Phaeacians. He praises—or as the kids say, hypes up—the banquet, calling it "the best that life can offer" (211). Tables "heaped with bread and meats," a seemingly endless supply of wine, and wouldn't you know it, a talented bard (poet) by the name of Odysseus is here to tell a thrilling tale (211)! Truly, this is heaven on Earth.

By mentioning the abundance of food, Odysseus makes himself appear as a victim at the hands of the Phaeacians' generosity. Indeed, he has lost everything. The underlying message here is that, since you have so much, why not spare a little resources to help the poor little guy?

Step 2: Claim the moral high ground.

In Odysseus' story, he's the good guy while the Cyclops is the bad guy. Simple as.

He practices xenia, the revered custom of reciprocity between a stranger and their host who offers them shelter, food, and safe passage. Given that Odysseus has received a meal from the Phaeacians and they knew his name, it can be inferred that he is in the gift-exchange stage of xenia. (His gift being his storytelling.)

In contrast, he presents the Cyclops as a "barbarian" and a "ruthless brute" who violates xenia by

1) Asking for Odysseus' name before offering a meal.

2) Not offering him and his men a meal, and eating them instead.

3) No safe escort home; attempting to sink their ships (220-222).

In doing so, Odysseus characterizes himself as a civilized man, aligning himself with the Phaeacians, who are his hosts, against the Cyclops. It is also worth noting that Odysseus never refers to the Cyclops by his name, Polyphemus, which further dehumanizes him. After all, naming is an inherently human, civilized convention.

Greek vase painting depicting Cyclops Polyphemus as a large, hairy man. It seems like Odysseus' construction of Polyphemus has worked.

Credit: the British Museum, via the Theoi Project

Greek vase painting of Odysseus and a ram.

Credit: the British Museum, via the Theoi Project

Step 3: Defeat the villain, but be humble about it.

Odysseus defeats the Cyclops with his famous move—by stabbing him in the eye. He "dragged [the olive stake] from the flames" and "rammed it" "straight into the monster's eye." He and his men "whirl" and "drill" the stake, until "blood came up boiling" and the eyeball "burst[ed]."

Pretty gruesome, isn't it?

If you think about this from the perspective of the Cyclops, Odysseus is just some random guy—an uninvited guest—who broke into your house. Somehow he had the audacity of thinking he should be treated nicely, and ended up torturing you. Surely you would hate this guy's guts.

But remember, Odysseus controls the narrative. As he had established previously, he is justified in punishing the Cyclops.

After blinding the Cyclops, Odysseus and his man are able to sneak out of the cave, and Odysseus makes sure he's the "last of them" to leave (225). In doing so, he shows deference, submission and respect for the power structure and customs. In a similar vein to "the captain goes down with the ship," Odysseus legitimizes his role as a leader, while showing humility, further embellishing himself as the righteous hero.

// Well that was a great story.

One word that stood out to me during the lecture was "entertain."

Aren't all stories, or any type of media, really, made to entertain the audience to some extent?

The goal of Odysseus is to entertain the Phaeacians. And I think it's fair to say that he did a pretty damn good job. Oh, to be a Phaeacian, drunk off wine, listening to a great tale without a care in the world...

Odysseus outsmarts Polyphemus over and over again. Just to name a few examples, he pretends his ship was "smashed" to pieces by Poseidon to conceal his only way out and gives out a fake name which leads to the Cyclops hilariously exclaiming "Nobody's killing me" (220-224). We, the audience, get the satisfaction of watching a clever hero do his thing. Not to mention that at the end, Odysseus, being the proud idiot he is, got himself cursed... To me, that's pretty entertaining.

Parallels between Grendel and the Odyssey

♫♪ if you knew what i knew, if you saw what i see, you’d look through illusions, hallucinations, and lucid dream. ♫♪

How do we know what's real and what's not? What's reality, anyway?

These are some questions I won't be answering here today, but we can take a look at the connection between storytelling and one's perception of reality.

Grendel illustrated by Emil Antonucci.

// Grendel and The Power of Storytelling

The theme of storytelling in the Odyssey reminds me of another book: Grendel by John Gardner, a fantastic fanfic retelling of the epic poem Beowulf, reimagined from the perspective of Grendel.

The more I think about it, the more similar the two stories are. They both have:

a bard who tells stories at a feast (the Shaper)
a "hero" who doesn't have a name (Beowulf)
a "villain" who's perceived/portrayed by civilization as a monster (Grendel)

The Shaper is a character who twists truths to create heroic tales. Not only can he rewrite history with his songs, but he can also directly influence the course of history. For example, his song about "a glorious mead hall whose light would shine to the ends of the ragged world” is what inspired the king to build his famous mead hall.

In Grendel, the Shaper sings of the history, stories, and tales that have most likely been exaggerated, embellished, if not entirely fabricated. Most importantly, the stories are there to entertain the audience during a feast. What fascinates me is that almost the exact same thing happens in the Odyssey, that being Odysseus recounting his encounter with the Cyclops to the Phaeacians.

I guess storytellers hold great powers, don't they?

// ... Am I a storyteller !?

Short answer: yes, I am, and so are you.

Long answer:

I like to record things that happen in my life and tell others about it. Perhaps I saw a cute dog today, or maybe we can talk about the time I took my plushie to a botanical garden (it was awesome). Unfortunately, our memory isn't the most reliable thing out there. Every time we retell a story, intentionally or not, we add and/or omit details.

But does it matter how faithful to the truth—whatever that means—your story is? I suppose not, since to the listener, what you say is the truth. It is a reality constructed by you. Whether they believe it or not though, is another thing.

Here's the music video of 2econd 2ight 2eer by Will Wood, as a treat :D I hope you've enjoyed the lyrics sprinkled throughout this webpage.

Reflection

Google Site, my old friend, we meet again! I've had experience using Google Sites, so creating the site itself went smoothly. What helped to speed up my process was that I already had the fonts, color palette, and background image figured out from other websites I was building. I'm pleased with how everything looks so far!

In the beginning, I didn't know what to write. It was rather nerve-racking staring at a blank page. But once I started writing, I got carried away. As you can see, this page is most definitely not a 5-minute read. Oops. Towards the end, it became more and more like documenting my stream of consciousness. Whatever ideas came to mind, I wrote (typed) them down. Then I tried to sort through them and, well, make them make sense. Sometime during this process, I realized that I struggle a lot with translating ideas in my head into concrete writing. It's as if I have multiple sentences in my head that are different expressions of the same idea, fighting over who's the best. Overall, the creation of this webpage was very self-indulgent, and I must say I really enjoyed it!

♫♪ well that was fun, goodbye! ♫♪

References / Image Credits

Sources:

Gardner, John. Grendel. Vintage Books, 2010.

Homer. Odyssey. Penguin Books, 1997.

Header Image: View of Mystic Mountain by Hubble Space Telescope

Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI), and Judy Schmidt

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