Dissecting the Odyssey’s immortality through the lens of Medievalism: The Odyssey (c. 700BC) is one of the earliest epics still in existence, now considered the archetypal journey. The characters and adventures of this story in many ways have defined Western literary canon. Among monsters, enchantresses, and exotic kingdoms; the theme of “nostos” (return) is what drives the story. Odysseus travels for decades, defying the will of gods, unable to rest until he reaches what so torments and possesses him: Ithaca as he remembers it - home.

Yet, the long awaited ending is tinged with incompleteness - Ithaca is no longer what it once was, Odysseus’ blissful memories belong to a place of the past kept alive by longing. Despite initial contentment, the

ending leaves Odysseus (and the reader) with a hunger for ‘return’ still unquenched.

The long lost past is impossible for a modern mind to grasp, but it leaves behind a phantom memory which haunts the collective cultural imagination. This lingering yet ultimately unreachable memory is central to my reworking of the Odyssey.