Sip & Learn "Homer's Odyssey and Nolan's Odyssey "

Can Nolan get The Odyssey wrong when Homer’s original is full of ambiguity, unclear motives, and a hero who keeps rewriting his own story?
About this Event

Christopher Nolan changed The Odyssey, and classicists are arguing about whether that matters. Some are uneasy with the liberties he takes with Homer’s story. Others would point out that people have been rewriting The Odyssey for thousands of years, including the ancient Greeks themselves.

Professor Jonathan Burgess will take us back to Homer’s version to understand what Nolan is actually changing. In Homer, Odysseus tells the Phaeacians about the Cyclops, Circe and his other supernatural adventures after they have already happened. Then he gets home, disguises himself as a beggar and starts telling entirely invented travel stories that sound much more realistic. The unbelievable stories are true. The believable ones are lies. Even the moment Penelope realizes the stranger in front of her is her husband is something scholars have been arguing about for years.

Jonathan Burgess is Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Toronto and has spent much of his career studying Homer and the stories that grew out of the ancient epics. His latest book, , was published by Oxford University Press in 2025 and focuses specifically on Odysseus’ wanderings and the stories he tells about them.

Agenda

6:00 PM doors open. Guests are welcome to arrive early, order drinks, and have dinner before the lecture begins.

7:00 PM lecture begins, followed by Q&A.

8:15 PM wrap up. Guests are welcome to stay for conversation and another drink.