Book 6
One of the fun parts of this project is finding the origins of popular names, quotes, etc. Book 6 features Nausikaa, which I'm going to assume is the origin of the titular Nausicaä in the Ghibli movie.
Continuing the hospitality theme, Odysseus is helped out by a princess after he washes assure. Athena helps him wash himself, and it sounds like a shampoo commercial for a bit:
Athena lent a hand, making him seem
taller, and massive too, with crisping hair
in curls like petals of wild hyacinth,
but all red-golden. Think of gold infused
Maybe he's born with it, maybe Athena-line.
Short book, my whole summary was "Odysseus washes ashore and is helped by a princess."
Book 7
Summary (I really should type these in, not just the parts I mark up): "Odysseus meets King Alkinoos, who is very friendly."
Athena suddenly turns vaguely British at one point:
"Oh yes, good frandger, sir, I know, I'll show you" and so on. I'm going to assume she's impersonating someone from a certain background that gets turned into a weird dialect in Homer, and that's Fitzgerald's way of replicating it. I feel like that used to be more popular as a translation convention.
"A cheerful man does best
in every enterprise-- even a stranger."
Put that in a fortune cookie or a cat poster.
Odysseus reiterates not giving consent to Kalypso again. UNLIKE CIRCE! Apparently he's good, but not that good.
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