A Homeric Summer

Christopher Nolan’s film has turned Homer into a global phenomenon, with The Odyssey earning $1.5 billion and prompting millions of viewers to discuss Odysseus, Penelope and Circe. For the columnist, that popularity offers schools an opportunity they should not ignore.

The piece begins with the encounter between Odysseus and Polyphemus. Trapped in the Cyclops’ cave, Odysseus blinds him and escapes by claiming that “Nobody” is attacking him. Intelligence defeats physical force, but Odysseus then ruins his advantage by shouting his real name. His pride, or hubris, gives Polyphemus a reason to ask Poseidon to prevent the hero’s return to Ithaca.

That scene does not appear in Nolan’s film, but the columnist forgives the omission because the movie has sent audiences back to one of the foundational works of world literature. The stories, the writer argues, offer ways to understand weakness, difficult choices and the need for a destination. Homer does not lecture, but tells stories that continue to reflect human life thousands of years later.

The column’s larger target is the declining place of classical works in schools. Young people, it says, need the myths, words and ideas through which civilization has explored love, power, friendship, fear, freedom, death and pride. Antigone, Odysseus and Aeneas are presented not as relics, but as figures who still speak to modern questions.

The writer calls for all students to take Classical Culture during at least one of the four years of compulsory secondary education. Castilla y León is cited as a region where the subject became compulsory and which ranks among Spain’s leaders in PISA. Nolan has brought Homer back to the summer audience, the column concludes. Schools now need to bring the classics back to the classroom.