The Odyssey

File this in the category under "cool stuff people get to do when they're in college."

The students in UTC's University Honors Program read Homer's The Odyssey today. The whole thing.

Out loud.

This is something of a tradition. They don't do it every year, but rather every once in a while, and they have ever so much fun with it. Students sign up for 15-minute segments and they read the entire epic -- all 12,110 lines -- over the course of about 12 hours or so.

People read with varying levels of enthusiasm -- you might get anything from the shy, quiet freshman to the 5th-year senior who's majoring in drama -- so the spectators never know what they'll hear when they pop over for a bit. Sometimes the audience can barely hear the recitation, and sometimes a reader can barely contain his performance. While most students simply read the text, some do dress up, bring props, or even occasionally bring along other costumed players to give life to a particular scene.

I stopped in for a little while before lunch today and was able to catch a number of readings that, despite the midday heat (and ugh, humidity!), managed to give energy to an ancient text. A few students even managed to emote while I was there.
Over 50 voices gave life to this epic today. There was no one voice (or even one language, since a student reportedly read her portion in its original ancient Greek this morning). There was no one audience. Everything was fluid. Nobody was there the whole time. The only constant was Homer.

How cool is that?

pssst! If you run over there right now, you might catch the grand conclusion -- they should wind it up around 9pm (they've moved it all from the campus amphitheater to the Guerry Center because of the weather).