{"product_id":"an-odyssey-a-father-a-son-and-an-epic-paperback","title":"An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eDaniel Mendelsohn\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003cb\u003eNew York Times\/PBS NewsHour Book Club Pick\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom award-winning memoirist and critic, and bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Lost: \u003c\/i\u003e a deeply moving tale of a father and son's transformative journey in reading--and reliving--Homer's epic masterpiece. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen eighty-one-year-old Jay Mendelsohn decides to enroll in the undergraduate \u003ci\u003eOdyssey\u003c\/i\u003e seminar his son teaches at Bard College, the two find themselves on an adventure as profoundly emotional as it is intellectual. For Jay, a retired research scientist who sees the world through a mathematician's unforgiving eyes, this return to the classroom is his \"one last chance\" to learn the great literature he'd neglected in his youth--and, even more, a final opportunity to more fully understand his son, a writer and classicist. But through the sometimes uncomfortable months that the two men explore Homer's great work together--first in the classroom, where Jay persistently challenges his son's interpretations, and then during a surprise-filled Mediterranean journey retracing Odysseus's famous voyages--it becomes clear that Daniel has much to learn, too: Jay's responses to both the text and the travels gradually uncover long-buried secrets that allow the son to understand his difficult father at last. As this intricately woven memoir builds to its wrenching climax, Mendelsohn's narrative comes to echo the \u003ci\u003eOdyssey\u003c\/i\u003e itself, with its timeless themes of deception and recognition, marriage and children, the pleasures of travel and the meaning of home. Rich with literary and emotional insight, \u003ci\u003eAn Odyssey \u003c\/i\u003eis a renowned author-scholar's most triumphant entwining yet of personal narrative and literary exploration. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eNamed a Best Book of 2017 by NPR, \u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eNewsday\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA \u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e Best Memoir of 2017\u003cbr\u003eShortlisted for the 2017 Baillie Gifford Prize\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eDANIEL MENDELSOHN is a frequent contributor to \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe New York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, where he is the Editor at Large. His books include the international best seller \u003ci\u003eThe Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and many other honors; a memoir, \u003ci\u003eThe Elusive Embrace\u003c\/i\u003e, a New York Times Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year; a translation, with commentary, of the complete poems of C. P. Cavafy; and two collections of essays, \u003ci\u003eHow Beautiful It Is and How Easily It Can Be Broken\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eWaiting for the Barbarians\u003c\/i\u003e. A professor of Humanities at Bard College, he is Director of the Robert B. Silvers Foundation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 320\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.8 x 7.9 x 5.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e July 31, 2018\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51755597365536,"sku":"9780345806215","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/93cadbbc81664c02a7f0984e54f44d6d.webp?v=1780063206","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/an-odyssey-a-father-a-son-and-an-epic-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}