College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Lecture 2 - Odysseus and his Critics: The First Modern Hero

The second lecture in Professor Susan Neiman's Gifford Lectures

Event details

Date: Tuesday 3 May 2022, 5:30pm to 6:30pm

Venue: Lecture Theatre A, 40 George Square

Lecture abstract

Odysseus is fictional, of course, but he has often been called the first modern hero in Western literature.  I’ll examine those claims and show what is important about the figure – as well as why the criticism often made of him is typical of the ways we still treat heroes. 

Lecture video