Although
contemporary readers encounter 's Odyssey as a single book, the ancient
audience would have heard the epic recited by rhapsodes in segments roughly corresponding to
what are now book divisions. Because only part of the story was heard at a given time, and also
due to the lack of "backward scanning" possibility in oral performance, much of the
backstory is told within frames. Often the same plot elements are recounted multiple times
within the epic in different frames, something that fills in audiences who might have missed
parts of the story.
The opening of the Odyssey has the
gods meeting on Mount Olympus. This serves as a frame for reminding the audience of important
events in the Trojan war and the current set of relationships among the gods and the returning
heroes.
Telemachus tells the story of the suitors and how they have overrun
the palace in the absence of Odysseus. This helps fill the reader in concerning the length
Odysseus has been away and what has happened in his...
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