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The Resource An odyssey : a father, a son, and an epic, Daniel Mendelsohn

An odyssey : a father, a son, and an epic, Daniel Mendelsohn

Creator
Author
Summary
A tale of a father and son's transformative journey in reading--and reliving--Homer's epic masterpiece. When eighty-one-year-old Jay Mendelsohn decides to enroll in the undergraduate Odyssey seminar his son teaches at Bard College, the two find themselves on an adventure as profoundly emotional as it is intellectual. For Jay, a retired research scientist who sees the world through a mathematician's unforgiving eyes, this return to the classroom is his "one last chance" to learn the great literature he'd neglected in his youth--and, even more, a final opportunity to more fully understand his son, a writer and classicist. But through the sometimes uncomfortable months that the two men explore Homer's great work together--first in the classroom, where Jay persistently challenges his son's interpretations, and then during a surprise-filled Mediterranean journey retracing Odysseus's famous voyages--it becomes clear that Daniel has much to learn, too: Jay's responses to both the text and the travels gradually uncover long-buried secrets that allow the son to understand his difficult father at last. As this memoir builds to its wrenching climax, Mendelsohn's narrative comes to deeply echo The Odyssey itself, with its timeless themes of deception and recognition, marriage and children, the pleasures of travel, and the meaning of home
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
Hardcover edition.
Extent
306 pages
Isbn
9780771057427
Instance
Label
An odyssey : a father, a son, and an epic
Title
An odyssey
Title remainder
a father, a son, and an epic
Statement of responsibility
Daniel Mendelsohn
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
A tale of a father and son's transformative journey in reading--and reliving--Homer's epic masterpiece. When eighty-one-year-old Jay Mendelsohn decides to enroll in the undergraduate Odyssey seminar his son teaches at Bard College, the two find themselves on an adventure as profoundly emotional as it is intellectual. For Jay, a retired research scientist who sees the world through a mathematician's unforgiving eyes, this return to the classroom is his "one last chance" to learn the great literature he'd neglected in his youth--and, even more, a final opportunity to more fully understand his son, a writer and classicist. But through the sometimes uncomfortable months that the two men explore Homer's great work together--first in the classroom, where Jay persistently challenges his son's interpretations, and then during a surprise-filled Mediterranean journey retracing Odysseus's famous voyages--it becomes clear that Daniel has much to learn, too: Jay's responses to both the text and the travels gradually uncover long-buried secrets that allow the son to understand his difficult father at last. As this memoir builds to its wrenching climax, Mendelsohn's narrative comes to deeply echo The Odyssey itself, with its timeless themes of deception and recognition, marriage and children, the pleasures of travel, and the meaning of home
Biography type
autobiography
Cataloging source
NLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1960-
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Mendelsohn, Daniel Adam
Dewey number
370.92
Index
no index present
Literary form
non fiction
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Mendelsohn, Daniel Adam
  • Mendelsohn, Jay
  • Homer
  • Fathers and sons
  • College teachers
  • Scientists
Label
An odyssey : a father, a son, and an epic, Daniel Mendelsohn
Instantiates
Publication
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Dimensions
25 cm
Edition
Hardcover edition.
Extent
306 pages
Isbn
9780771057427
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
System control number
  • ocn985966369
  • (OCoLC)985966369
Label
An odyssey : a father, a son, and an epic, Daniel Mendelsohn
Publication
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Dimensions
25 cm
Edition
Hardcover edition.
Extent
306 pages
Isbn
9780771057427
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
System control number
  • ocn985966369
  • (OCoLC)985966369

Subject

Genre

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