Mendelsohn, Daniel. An Odyssey: A Father a Son and an Epic. Knopf; First Edition edition (September 12, 2017)

“When eighty-one-year-old Jay Mendelsohn decides to enroll in the undergraduate Odyssey seminar his son teaches at Bard College, the two find themselves on an adventure as profoundly emotional as it is intellectual. For Jay, a retired research scientist who sees the world through a mathematician's unforgiving eyes, this return to the classroom is his "one last chance" to learn the great literature he'd neglected in his youth--and, even more, a final opportunity to more fully understand his son, a writer and classicist. But through the sometimes uncomfortable months that the two men explore Homer's great work together--first in the classroom, where Jay persistently challenges his son's interpretations, and then during a surprise-filled Mediterranean journey retracing Odysseus's famous voyages--it becomes clear that Daniel has much to learn, too: Jay's responses to both the text and the travels gradually uncover long-buried secrets that allow the son to understand his difficult father at last. As this intricately woven memoir builds to its wrenching climax, Mendelsohn's narrative comes to echo the Odyssey itself, with its timeless themes of deception and recognition, marriage and children, the pleasures of travel and the meaning of home. Rich with literary and emotional insight, An Odyssey is a renowned author-scholar's most triumphant entwining yet of personal narrative and literary exploration.”

- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33571159-an-odyssey 

About the author

Mendelsohn's books include a memoir, "The Elusive Embrace" (1999), a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year; the international bestseller "The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million" (2006), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the National Jewish Book Award, the Salon Book Award, and many other honors in the US and abroad, including the Prix Médicis in France; two collection of his essays and criticism, "How Beautiful It Is and How Easily It Can Be Broken" (2008), a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, and "Waiting for the Barbarians: Essays from the Classics to Pop Culture" (2012), which was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Prize in Criticism and the PEN Art of the Essay Award; and a two-volume translation, with Introduction and Commentary, of the Complete Poems of the Alexandrian Greek poet Constantine Cavafy (2009), also a Publisher Weekly Best Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for the Criticos Prize (U.K.).In September 2017, his new memoir, "An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic," was published by Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S. and by William Collins in the U.K., where it has been long-listed for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction.Daniel Mendelsohn was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012; he is also a member of the American Philosophical Society. Other honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship and the George Jean Nathan Prize for Dramatic Criticism. He teaches literature at Bard College and lives in the Hudson Valley of New York.

- https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Father-Son-Epic/dp/0385350597 

Critiques - Presentations

Δημήτρης Δουλγερίδης, «Κυνηγάμε όλοι σκιές, όπως ο Οδυσσέας», "Τα Νέα"/ "Βιβλιοδρόμιο", 1.9.2018

Τίνα Μανδηλαρά, Η «Οδύσσεια» του Μέντελσον: Ένα μεγάλο μάθημα αυτογνωσίας, "Lifo", 27.7.2018

Λαμπρινή Κουζέλη, Ο Οδυσσέας και το πρόσωπο του πατέρα, "Το Βήμα"/ "Βιβλία", 8.7.2018

Ηλίας Μαγκλίνης, Μια άλλη οδύσσεια, "Η Καθημερινή", 23.6.2018

Emily Wilson, An Odyssey by Daniel Mendelsohn review – a father, a son and Homer’s epic. “The Guardian”, 13.9.2017, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/13/an-odyssey-a-father-a-son-and-an-epic-by-daniel-mendelsohn-review

Adam Nicolson, Father-Son Bonding, With Homer as Guide. “The New York Times”, 17.11.2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/books/review/daniel-mendelsohn-an-odyssey-memoir.html

Dwight Garner, A father and son sail through Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ together. “The New York Times”, 18.9.2017https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/books/review/review-an-odyssey-daniel-mendelsohn.html

Helen Morales, The twisty one: Helen Morales on reimagining the story of Odysseus in a modern context. “The Times Literary Supplement”, 7.11.2017 https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/odyssey-mendelsohn-wilson-review/

Books by the author available at the library

Mendelsohn, Daniel. Περιμένοντας τους βαρβάρους: από τον Αριστοφάνη στο Avatar. Εκδόσεις Πατάκη, 2016. (809.9335 ΜΕΝ)

Mendelsohn, Daniel. Χαμένοι: αναζητώντας έξι από τα έξι εκατομμύρια. Πόλις, 2010. (940.5318 MEN)

Translations

Καβάφης, Κ. Π. Complete poems. Translated with introduction and commentary by Daniel Mendelsohn. Harper, 2013. (Library Office Collection 891.65 ΚΑΒ)

Καβάφης, Κ. Π. Collected poems. Translated with introduction and commentary by Daniel Mendelsohn. Knopf, 2009. (Library Office Collection 891.65 ΚΑΒ)

Καβάφης, Κ. Π.  The unfinished poems. (The first English translation with introduction and commentary by Daniel Mendelsohn based on the Greek edition of Renata Lavagnini.) Knopf, 2009. (Library Office Collection 891.65 ΚΑΒ)

Interesting webpages and video clips

http://www.danielmendelsohn.com/about (Η επίσημη ιστοσελίδα του συγγραφέα)

https://el-gr.facebook.com/Daniel.A.Mendelsohn/ (Η ιστοσελίδα του συγγραφέα στο facebook)

https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/daniel-mendelsohn (Άρθρα του συγγραφέα στο “The New Yorker”)

https://www.jccsf.org/arts-ideas/ondemand/2017-2018-season/daniel-mendelsohn/ (Ο Daniel Mendelsohn μιλάει ζωντανά για το βιβλίο του στο “JCCSF Arts and ideas”)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Var-8ztSLTs  (Ο Daniel Mendelsohn απαγγέλει Καβάφη στο Ίδρυμα Ωνάση)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_smFcnRkZlc (Ο Daniel Mendelsohn μιλάει για τον Καβάφη και απαγγέλει ποίησή του στο 92Y)