LAL #035 — Norm Reads Aloud: The Odyssey, Book V

<p>“Here is your servant; lord, have mercy on me.”<br /> <br /> Zeus decrees that Odysseus shall be released from his captivity to Kalypso. He is sent to see along, on a raft built with his own hands. After many days, he spies land, but a vengeful Poseidon stirs the oceans. Odysseus is capsized and exhausted. He fears death, but is show the way to shore by by a helpful goddess and the gift of Athena, “the gift of self-possession.” He reaches land, spent, and prepares a bed of leaves beneath some olive branches where he hopes rest will restore him.</p> <p>Too busy to read? Fine—I will read for you. Listen as though your soul’s life depends on it, because, in fact it does.</p> <p>Herewith, Book V of Homer’s Odyssey.</p> <p>See: <a href= "https://anchor.fm/norm-pattis/episodes/LAL-028--Norm-Reads-Aloud-The-Odyssey--Book-IV-e11i2t2"> LAL #028 for my reading of Book IV</a>.</p> <p>See Also: Norm Pattis on <a href= "https://www.patreon.com/normpattis?fan_landing=true">Patreon</a>.</p> <p>_____________________________________</p> <p>I’ve a confession: Months go by without my ever turning on the television; I cannot recall the last time I watched cable news. I see the talking heads, and I think Macbeth:<br /> <br /> “Out, out, brief candle!<br /> Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,<br /> That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,<br /> And then is heard no more. It is a tale<br /> Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,<br /> Signifying nothing.”<br /> <br /> All the chatter, all the news, the breathless repetition of the obvious, the rendering of half-truths into complete nonsense, and yet the audience, the millions who cannot tear themselves away from the noise. We’re rubbernecking at the catastrophe that has become our common lot.<br /> <br /> We can do better. We are living on the capital of a great civilization, drawing down from ancient fonts of wisdom even as we tear at the foundations of what makes our foolish extravagance possible.  It’s terrifying.<br /> <br /> So what can you do?<br /> <br /> Nou