Telemachus and the Birth of Wonder with Dr. Jason Baxter

“Tell me, Muse, of the man of many ways, who was driven / far journeys, after he sacked Troy’s sacred citadel.”

Those lines open Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. The story, they tell us, is about Odysseus, a great hero of the Trojan War. It’s about his journeys and trials. Bracing stuff and we can’t wait to get started. But Homer doesn’t start. Not yet.

Instead after the exciting preview, the first four books of The Odyssey are not about the heroic Odysseus, but about his son, Telemachus who Dr. Jason Baxter describes as “adolescent, wimpy, insecure.” That is, he’s the polar opposite of his famous dad.

Yet it was to Telemachus that Dr. Baxter pointed to encourage our students here at Wyoming Catholic College. Dr. Baxter is our guest on this week’s episode of the After Dinner Scholar podcast.