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The Odyssey

A queer take on the Dead White Male
By NINA MACLAUGHLIN  |  May 9, 2007
3.0 3.0 Stars
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THE ODYSSEY: Davina Semo’s Book VI is a highlight.

As far as Dead White Males go, Homer ranks as grandfather to them all — the Odyssey remains a staple on Western Civ syllabi in colleges across the country. Andrea Lawlor and Bernadine Mellis tackle the story of Odysseus’s decade-long trip back to Ithaca after the Trojan War in the form of 24 short films by queer, trans, and women artists. The DWM institution doesn’t get subverted, exactly — the project follows a tradition of reinterpretation of the Odyssey. It just happens to be a more postmodern take than, say, Tennyson’s. The plot aligns with that of the epic, and helpful bits of text guide you from chapter to chapter. Davina Semo’s Book VI, when Odysseus encounters the virgin princess Nausikaa, is a highlight; Semo evokes a sexual mood with crude clay objects. Book X, when the crew get turned to swine, stands out for its painted wooden characters. There are some clunkers: Odysseus slaying the suitors, for example, is told by a woman sitting at a kitchen table.
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  Topics: Reviews , Andrea Lawlor, Bernadine Mellis, THE ODYSSEY
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ARTICLES BY NINA MACLAUGHLIN
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    Age 30, I quit the Phoenix and ended up with a job as an apprentice to a carpenter. Sawing, chiseling, hammering, nail-gunning, tiling, sanding, slotting, framing, hauling, measuring, and sweeping are less obvious outcomes of an undergraduate career in the liberal arts. College, in strange and unexpected ways, prepared me for this sort of work. And in others, did not prepare me at all.
  •   PHDISASTERS  |  April 27, 2011
    I knew a man pursuing a PhD in literature. His dissertation had to do with humor as a form of dissent in 20th-century literature. And how enthused he was at first! How passionate and excited.
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    All I can do is tell you how I read the book.
  •   THE HOUSE THAT HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG BUILT  |  February 25, 2011
    Andre Dubus III collected me at the Newburyport train station last month when the snow piles were already high. We stopped first for a coffee for the road; he asked all the questions: siblings, hometown, are you married?
  •   DON'T BE AN IDIOT  |  January 27, 2011
    We're all idiots when we're 18. We're all idiots for the first half of our 20s, and longer, for some. By saying so, we're not trying to insult anyone.

 See all articles by: NINA MACLAUGHLIN



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