I have been reading more lately, during the rides up and down the peninsula on CalTrain. The latest is Odysseus: A Life, by Charles Rowan Beye, an imagined biography of the hero of the Trojan War and the Odyssey.
I have been particularly interested in Odysseus since I first read The Origin of Consciousness… many years ago. Jaynes makes a case for Odysseus being an early example of a “modern” man, with a fully developed consciousness (in contrast to the rest of the characters of the Iliad). O:AL (perhaps unintentionally) supports this theme, presenting Odysseus as one of the more self-actualized characters of the Bronze Age, more three-dimensional than the rest of the cast of the Iliad by far.
And I noticed the author compared Odysseus’ physical appearance to that of “bluff Prince Hal”, something that will surely amuse one reader of this blog in particular.
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