What the Odyssey revealed about my father

Classics professor Daniel Mendelsohn had spent years teaching Homer’s Odyssey. Then in 2011, his father unexpectedly enrolled in his university course at Bard College. Jay – an opinionated, 81-year-old retired mathematician – promised to sit quietly at the back of the class. Instead, he questioned Odysseus’ reputation as a hero and disputed Daniel’s interpretations of the ancient Greek epic. At first, Jay’s outspoken challenges threatened to derail the seminar. But as they debated, Daniel began to see the Odyssey differently; the father-son dynamics at the heart of the story shed light on his own complicated relationship with his dad. After the semester ended, they travelled through the Mediterranean together, retracing Odysseus’ legendary voyage from Troy to Ithaca. Along the way, Daniel came to understand a side of his father he’d never fully known before.

Daniel’s memoir is called An Odyssey: A Father, a Son and an Epic.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Maryam Maruf

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(Photo: Daniel Mendelsohn and his father, Jay Mendelsohn, stand arm in arm in front of the ancient Greek temple at Segesta, Sicily. Jay stands on the left, Daniel on the right. Both wear sun hats and light summer clothing, with the temple's weathered stone columns rising behind them under a clear blue sky. Credit: Courtesy of Daniel Mendelsohn)