The interpretation of Ithaca by authors and artists than Homer.
This is an assignment that focuses on the interpretation of Ithaca by authors and artists than Homer. The paper also requires the evaluation of at least two references.
The interpretation of Ithaca by authors and artists
This should not be about the geography of Ithaca, it should be MAINLY about Ithaca as a literary milestone. In other words, how has Homeric Ithaca, inspired literature and art of subsequent generations? In my power point ( posted above) there are several references to literature and art. (Cavafy’s “Ithaca,” Walt Whitman’s “Had I the Choice,” Derek Walcott, Thomas Wolfe’s You Can’t Go Home Again, or even films like The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind), that have interpreted and reinterpreted the idea of Ithaca and also what it means to modernity.
Your task is to evaluate at least two of these references. Also, examine how the idea of Ithaca has been interpreted by other authors and artists than Homer. One of them is the modern poet Constantine Cavafy whose poem “Ithaca” is crucial to the modern understanding of it (see related links below). However, if you are also going to discuss a film, please make sure you watch it and you don’t rely on online notes of the film without ever seeing it.
Ithaca emerges as metaphorical space and a state of mind, an idea that triggers recollection, hope, nostalgia, and also sometimes, disappointment. You should choose two works mentioned in ppoint, as well as in Edith Hall’s chapter “Exile from Ithaca,” which obviously is foundational reading for this paper, including poems and /or films, and explore how they construe the idea of Ithaca.
The interpretation of Ithaca by authors and artists
Some questions that emerge from the modern interpretation of Ithaca, among many other, are:
Can anyone ever return to his/her original home?
How is the idea of home shaped by memory in the mind of the beholder?
Is nostos a physical or psychological journey in modernity?
How does time change the notion and the memory of home?
What is most rewarding for us moderns, the destination or the journey?
How does longing and searching for home add to someone’s experience?
If Odysseus lived today would he be able to ever return home?
The interpretation of Ithaca by authors and artists than Homer
