Boys Trip
to Hell and Back
An investigation of masculinity in the company of Homer, his readers, and the men still trying to figure out what's happening to them.
The question that started this
Are men really as simple as they claim? And if so, why are they in charge of the complex web that is human society?
We're reading Wilson's Odyssey across six Fridays, paired with Mendelsohn's An Odyssey as our constant companion and one contemporary text per session on masculinity. A counterweight to last winter's Sad Girl School — same questions, opposite axis.
Six ports of call
The Telemachy
Companions: Emily Wilson, Translator's Note · The Atlantic, What Parents of Boys Should Know
Calypso to the Cyclops
Companion: Andrew McCarthy, Who Needs Friends
Circe, the Underworld, the Sirens
Companions: Christine Emba, "Men are lost" · Esther Perel, "Why Happy People Cheat"
Back to Ithaca
Companion: Matthew Crawford, Shop Class as Soulcraft
The Test, the Slaughter, the Homecoming
Companion (choose one): Sebastian Junger, Tribe or Phil Klay, "The Warrior at the Mall"
Movie Night & Closing
Companions: Mary Beard, Women & Power: A Manifesto · Madeline Miller, "On Women's Work, Translation, and Gender in The Odyssey"