uplandpoet says
seems to me like your teacher did you a big favor, on three counts:you have to go to the library!you got some help on grammar, which is sorely lacking in most modern education ( i am a prime example)and you will get to read this book without too much "instruction" which means you have a very good chance to fall in love with it. and you discuss it here or next year with your classmates! so thank your teacher!!!!
posted 10 days ago
(This is a response to a previous comment)
shanmin d says
We were supposed to read this in English class, but the stupid teacher wasted two weeks on grammar and we didn't get to read this!! I NEED to visit the library...
harvey booth says
For anyone who likes to talk about different mythology fo this this group,http://www.shelfari.com/groups/26139/about
I totally disagree with you!
posted 2 weeks ago
(harvey booth’s previously rated this books 2 stars)
nutmegballs says
All your base are belong to us.Odyssey can kick Iliad's butt any day of the WEEK!Seriously, though, The story of the Iliad is too long and drawn out with endless descriptions (the ships and the shield, for instance) and the Odyssey is the classic hero's journey tale. As far as an entertaining read goes, the Odyssey is much stronger, in my opinion. If you want to be "educated" and lulled to sleep, then the Iliad is my choice for you.As for being concerned about the "literature" of this period taking some sort of popular precedence over the "classics," your first mistake was claiming that these modern stories are "literature" at all. Take fluffy, entertaining fiction for what it is. It doesn't purport to be "literature" in the high-minded sense of the word. It is simply entertaining fiction that brings people back to the written word, as others have said before me. There is nothing wrong with people reading crap, as long as they are reading.
(nutmegballs’s previously rated this books 2 stars)
The odyssey is alot weaker than the Iliad.
lachie says
The greatest story ever told, so beautifully told. This novel, or song, coupled with the Iliad are without the cornerstones of Western Literature, and quite possibly their finest achievements. Danielle, comparing the Odyssey to Harry Potter is like comparin a sugar cube and a real meal. Many people want the cube, and the stupid will take it, but those with brains who crave word nourishment will always choose the meal.
danielle b says
Say what you will about "the Pottery" and whether or not you believe that it is good literature, but it has also sparked a surge in kid's interest in reading. If we can't get kids interested in reading anything, they'll never make it to the "classics" like Homer. If the worst that our generation of writing is remembered for is Harry Potter, I'd be proud to stand behind writing that may not be as flowery and meaningful as classics of the past, but brought people back to books.
posted 3 weeks ago
(danielle b’s previously rated this books 5 stars)
hard for me to feel like it is either/or. i love the diversity of wondeful books thatg have been writeen, just in english in the past 100 yrs, i am sure from the little i have seen translated, that other languages are also full of stuff way up the road from pop lit. homer is like the bible, a complilation of writers of a long peroid of time and for the longest most of the lit the world knew. it is great, but it and other classics are mostly great for what they tell us of those early years of lit, i think faulkner, morrison, naylor, kingsolver, twain, cather, greene, marquez, and dozens or even hundreds of others write to the level or above the "classics" no reason to be depressed. our era will not be remembered for jkrowling, stephen king or james patterson
posted Friday, June 6 2008
(uplandpoet’s previously rated this books 5 stars)
sabin figaro iii says
Hard to imagine that there was a time when everybody knew about these tales and the peoples in them. It's a sad, sad day when a great literary work such as this is passed over for the Pottery and da Vinci-an blah that passes for literature nowadays.
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