PopPoetry’s Epic Summer Odyssey: Weekly Film Posts + A Book Club & Playlist to Celebrate the Poem of All Poems

This summer, I’ll be leading up to the movie-going event of the year with a series of themed posts at PopPoetry. Why?

Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated adaptation of The Odyssey premieres in theaters on July 17.

As I’ve pointed out before, I’m not cool enough to have access to screeners (yet!), so I’ll be heading to the theater to watch the movie right along with you and will resurface here shortly thereafter.

In the meantime, get ready for a series of weekly posts devoted to other silver screen adaptations of Homer’s ancient epic in the run-up to the Nolan Odyssey, which I’ll cap off the series with.

So like, what’s the movie about?

You know the story, even if you only heard it once in 9th-grade English: a guy goes to war and tries to get home for decades, beset by all manner of evils, while his devoted wife treads water and tries to keep the vultures at bay and raise their son. When Odysseus, said guy, finally returns and sees every swinging dick in town trying to bed his woman, well… Daddy’s home.

The Odyssey, attributed to ancient Greek poet Homer, is the ur-text for so much of Western literature and epitomizes Joseph Campbell’s oft-cited “Hero’s Journey.” It was written in the 7th-8th century BCE and has been a part of the consciousness of the English literary tradition since it was first translated in the 16th century CE.

The poem has been translated endlessly with endless variations. The Wikipedia table that shows each translator alongside their translation of the poem’s opening lines is great fun.

Become a paid subscriber at any level to join the PopPoetry (Audio)Book Club and get access to a special chat as we listen along together.

I was raised on the Robert Fitzgerald translation first published in 1961, but others by Edward McCrorie, Anthony Verity, and Stephen Mitchell are fresher. In 2018, Emily Wilson became the first woman to produce a full translation of The Odyssey in English. I have not yet tackled it, but that changes now.

She is all over this Substack. She just can’t stay away from poetry! See for yourself:

I can’t wait to listen along with you and live-chat the results. If you’re already a paid subscriber, stay tuned for an email when the chat is switched on.

The Odyssey hasn’t only been inspirational to filmmakers: Homer’s epic gets its fair share of nods in the world of music, too. To get things started, here’s a curated playlist I made just for y’all. This is just a sampling of the many artists who’ve incorporated some aspect of Homer’s epic poem into their work along with some soundtrack entries.

Which one is your favorite?

It’s going to be a fun one at PopPoetry this summer. Make sure you don’t miss a post: subscribe to get each installment delivered straight to your inbox.

Are there any adaptations you’re hoping to see covered? Do you like The Odyssey? Tolerate it? Have any traumatic college memories of slogging through it? Whose translation is your favorite, and why? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading and listening. Wear your sunscreen, and I’ll see you soon!