文档介绍：The OdysseyWhat is it besides being a Rollicking Great Story?The Odyssey’s Construction?The Odyssey begins in medias res, meaning that the action begins in the middle of the plot, and that prior events are described through flashbacks or storytelling. ?This device is imitated by later authors of literary epics, . Virgil in the Aeneid, as well as modern poets such as Alexander Pope in the mock-epic/ mock-heroic "The Rape Of The Lock.“?Nearly all modern editions and translations of the Odyssey (like the Iliad) are divided into 24 books. –This division is handy but it is not original; it was developed by Alexandrian editors of the 3rd century BC. ?In the Classical period, moreover, several of the books (individually and in groups) were given their own titles: the first four books, focusing on Telemachus, monly known as the Telemachy; ?Within Odysseus' narrative, Book 9, featuring Odysseus' encounter with the cyclopsPolyphemus, is traditionally called the Cyclopeia; ?and Book 11, the section describing his meeting with the spirits of the dead, is known as the Nekuia.?Books 9 through 12, wherein Odysseus recalls his adventures for his Phaeacian hosts, are collectively referred to as the Apologoi: Odysseus' "stories." ?Book 22, wherein Odysseus kills all the suitors, has been given the title Mnesterophonia: "slaughter of the suitors.?The last 548 lines of the Odyssey, corresponding to book 24, are believed by many scholars to have been added by a slightly later poet. ?Several passages in earlier books seem to be setting up the events of book 24, so if it is indeed a later addition, the offending editor would seem to have changed earlier text as /~cfarring/Odyssey/