A character in a television show I watch has a son called Homer. In a fan group for the show, someone was aghast that parents could give their kid such an embarrassing name and that everyone would laugh at them. I suggested that the name Homer was probably a reference to the ancient Greek poet who wrote The Odyssey and The Iliad. No one in the thread had heard of Homer the poet. Or Homer Hickam. They had only heard of Homer Simpson. I felt like a dinosaur.
That struck me as an example of generational cultural influences. I love The Simpsons, particularly Mr Burns. I even use the term Flanderization whenever I can. The Simpsons is today’s Shakespeare in terms of quotability and cultural commentary.
For me, however, the word Homer will always bring up memories of one of the greatest epic poems every written. My specialisation for my degree was epic poems (I wrote my dissertation on Spenser’s The Faerie Queene), so I know I am biased. Penelope and her weaving will stay with me forever.
Or even Homer Hickam, bloody autocorrect!
Flanderization and Homer Hickman are both new to me (thank you!).
I loved the Simpson’s too though I would not watch them now. I ‘ve only read ‘The Odyssey’ in translation though I read the poems of Catullus in the original: Latin was one of my majors at uni —
I read Homer in English as part of Classical Studies, though I did Catullus in Latin. I had to translate Pliny the Youngers letters to Tacitus at school and have never forgotten his account of the eruption of Vesuvius that obliterated Pompeii. I think that is why I still love translating. It is like solving a puzzle! In my day you had to do Latin if you were studying medicine or law. I did six years of Latin at school and one at university. Plus all the Catholic masses in Latin, of course. My Latin knowledge has helped me surprisingly much over the years.
I too read Pliny’s account of the eruption of Vesuvius; one of the best first -hand accounts of a natural disaster I’ve ever read; I still love Catullus’s love poems to Lesbia 🙂
I battled to translate it – I was 15 – but it was kind of a page-turner so I refused to give up. I am still pretty interested in Pompeii.
I never tried Pliny — not in the original — I was too smitten with Catullus and his passion for Lesbia 🙂