Departmental Papers (Classical Studies)
Document Type
Book Chapter
Date of this Version
2014
Publication Source
Odyssean Identities in Modern Cultures: The Journey Home
Start Page
112
Last Page
132
Abstract
From the Odyssey onwards, the long nostos tradition has at times called J attention to a paradoxical insight: the challenges and rewards of homecoming can be experienced by those who never leave home. If being at home means more than being physically located in a certain place, then the dynamics of presence and absence, loss and recovery, that make up nostos can be played out within a single setting. Something new can be gained that makes the non-traveler somehow more "at home" than before. Or the obstacles to a successful experience of outward journey and smooth reintegration may not be intrusions from the outside, but internal, homegrown impediments.
Recommended Citation
Murnaghan, Sheila. (2014). The Misadventure of Staying Home: Thwarted Nostos in De Chirico and Rebecca West. In Hunter Gardner and Sheila Murnaghan (Eds.), Odyssean Identities in Modern Cultures: The Journey Home, (pp. 112-132). Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
Date Posted: 13 January 2017