22nd Mailing
The Odyssey comes for all men. On Monday, it came for me in Rishon l’Tzion, Israel on an IMAX screen, which the stranger sitting next to me assured me was a size 70% of the ideal envisioned by Christopher Nolan (an ideal achieved by only 40 screens globally) but was bigger and more impressive than any screen on which this old guy had ever seen a film.
Saw, immediately, what the Emily Wilson controversy was all about. Nonetheless, judging it as a film qua film, found it very impressive.
In the weeks leading up to this experience I have accumulated three items for your consideration:
a) in case you missed it, the London Review of Books critique by Emily Wilson;
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DaW1p8lrSXWdvorlfblK2drw38bbp0aA/view?usp=drivesdkb) a lovely piece about old folks and the classics by Seth Kaplan;
Literary Hub » Why My 85-Year-Old Friend Has Devoted the Last Years of Her Life to Reading the Ancient Classics
Joan is eighty-five years old, and I fell a little in love with her on Thanksgiving. She was sitting on our couch reading a copy of The Aeneid that she had plucked from the bookshelves that line ou…
c) Since we are on Homer, a fetching conceit;
https://drive.google.com/file/d/199UmvQ6_6Ets9neNbigHsOzFhJu6yj13/view?usp=drivesdkLeaving the Greek gods, a final thought. Some of you are acquainted with the outstanding, written work of Dina Kraft, the daughter of a friend of mine from childhood until now. After years of writing from Israel, including a long stint at Haaretz, Dina has returned to the Washington, D.C. area. Here is a link to one of her latest gigs, which I highly recommend.
