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On the heels of his about Homer’s Odyssey, 91���� President Paul J. O’Reilly made an appearance on Relevant Radio’s Monday, talking about the great epic and the lessons it can teach us today.

For half an hour, Dr. O’Reilly spoke with guest host Ed Morrissey about the Odyssey, days after the debut of Christopher Nolan’s movie adaptation of Odysseus’s legendary journey. Recommending the , read by freshmen in the College’s classical curriculum, Dr. O’Reilly shared that the Odyssey details the story of its complex hero and his voyage, external and internal, of returning home to the kingdom of Ithaca.

“The book starts with the line, ‘Tell me, Muse, of the man of many ways,’ and I think that is very revealing of what Homer is up to in the book,” he said. “Although it traces his way home back to Ithaca, it’s not at all clear that he’s desiring to go home at first. This is a complicated person who enjoys his journeys, maybe more than he should, but who ultimately discovers, through the movement of his soul, that he wants to go home.”

The pair also spoke on the vice of hubris, the initial ruthlessness of the hero and his men after 10 years of war, Odysseus’s moving journey to the Underworld, the epic’s focus on family and home life, Penelope’s prudent protection of her household, and other topics, concluding with a consideration of why the Odyssey is so appealing to young people in particular.

“The young, in virtue of them being young, can vicariously have the experience of the warrior, the husband, or family life through literature and start to think more deeply about the issues that are involved in those relationships,” explained Dr. O’Reilly. “The scene in the Underworld, even for Christians, is very powerful because, although we don’t agree with the mythology, there is something right about life after death and punishment for those who have lived badly, and those issues are very formative.”