Home Literary Studies OΔYΣΣEYΣ OYTIΣ: Odysseus Nobody
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

OΔYΣΣEYΣ OYTIΣ: Odysseus Nobody

  • Evangelos Zoidis
Published/Copyright: February 20, 2008
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
arcadia
From the journal Volume 39 Issue 2

Abstract

Uttering the name which negates his own existence, Odysseus as Nobody embarks on the endless journey of reflection of Western subjectivity. On an island at the limits of civilization Homer pushes language to say what cannot be said and the hero to reach beyond his identity. And as the poet searches not for the word but for the word-event, so must his persona consider individuality in its transcendental dimension. The immeasurable denial that this quest entails effaces almost the entire positivity of the word and of the self in order to withdraw itself at the point where the mirroring of the subject on its representation shall rise again as the condition of humanity's possibility.

Published Online: 2008-02-20
Published in Print: 2004-11-19

© Walter de Gruyter

Downloaded on 25.12.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/arca.39.2.382/html
Scroll to top button