BOOK REVIEW: The Lost Books of the Odyssey: A Novel
By Zachary Mason, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Hardcover, 2010, 228 pages, $24
The great Irish writer James Joyce asserted that Odysseus -- whose Latinized name is Ulysses -- is the most complete man in literature: "Ulysses is son to Laertes, but he is father to Telemachus, husband to Penelope, lover of Calypso, companion in arms of the Greek warriors around Troy, and King of Ithaca. He was subjected to many trials, but with wisdom and courage came through them all ... Another thing, the history of Ulysses did not come to an end when the Trojan war was over. It began just when the other Greek heroes went back to live the rest of their lives in peace." Indeed Homer's "Odyssey" and the mythic nostos* so thrillingly depicted in that classic provide most of the framework for Joyce's own legendary novel "Ulysses."
The ancient poet's profound legacy continues to inspire and invigorate. Zachary Mason, a fresh face in American letters, has penned a new collection of vibrant vignettes, rich variations and glosses on the scintillating Homeric tradition. The 44 chapters that comprise "The Lost Books of the Odyssey" are pulsating, ramified streams of exquisite story.
Odysseus and his fellow actors from the agonies of the Trojan War, and his subsequent adventures before finally reaching home, ignite the poetic imagination. Mason's renderings are frequently alive with the fury of battle, the deep longing for home and hearth, and a welter of other situations and emotions. Elements of magical realism and alluring twists on the standard tales enliven each narrative strand.
The book opens with Odysseus arriving home after his 20-year absence. On entering his house he finds his wife Penelope weaving and, nearby, an elderly man dozes peacefully by the fire. Odysseus understands that his wife has remarried. Mason writes: "The idea is absurd -- the man is soft, grey and heavy, no hero and never was one, would not have lasted an hour in the blinding glare before the walls of Troy." Penelope too presents an aged countenance: "Without the eyes of homecoming there is only an echo of her beauty." She assures Odysseus that he is welcome and tearfully confesses that she had thought him dead, that she had waited long before taking another husband. "Then, mercifully, revelation comes. He realizes that this is not Penelope. This is not his hall. This is not Ithaca -- what he sees before him is a vengeful illusion, the deception of some malevolent god. The real Ithaca is elsewhere, somewhere on the sea-roads, hidden. Giddy, Odysseus turns and flees the tormenting shadows."
So it is with Mason's compelling reconfigurations of Homeric lore. Familiar characters are sent in new and unexpected directions. Archetypal stars of the mythic pantheon forge novel relationships. Patterns of the old story are altered.
Achilles, the bellicose half-god whose ferocity on the battlefield is unequaled, is still the consummate warrior: "A high wave surging onto shore, breaking over a dune and washing the sand away in a foaming tumult