TO ITHACA AND BEYOND. SCENARIOS FOR A SECOND ODYSSEY
TO ITHACA AND BEYOND. SCENARIOS FOR A SECOND ODYSSEY
Author(s): Mădălina CeciuleacSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Essay|Book Review |Scientific Life, Poetry, Anthology, Studies of Literature, Greek Literature, Cultural Essay, Philology, Theory of Literature, Italian literature, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Editura Arhipelag XXI
Keywords: Ithaca; Ulysses; unheimlich; literary topos; mythological reception;
Summary/Abstract: In this article, we aim to analyze the literary representations of Ithaca in Konstantinos P. Kavafis’s poem The Second Odyssey and Giovanni Pascoli’s L’ultimo viaggio. Starting from the (post)modern concept of homeland as an imaginary place, we intend to investigate the images of Ithaca as a literary topos. The concept of ex halos and its meanings concerning the death of the Greek hero play a central role in shaping narratives of the home journey in the post-Homeric world. In the modern context, Ithaca becomes a fictional landscape, an unfamiliar home. While in Kavafis’s text, Ithaca is a space of imprisonment for the hero driven by a thirst for knowledge, in Pascoli’s poem, Ithaca is a place that no longer exists.
Journal: Journal of Romanian Literary Studies
- Issue Year: 2026
- Issue No: 45
- Page Range: 351-358
- Page Count: 8
- Language: Romanian
