This Author Says You Shouldn’t Be Intimidated by ‘The Odyssey’

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If you can’t tell your Eurylochus from your Telemachus, fear not: Your primer on “The Odyssey” is here, just in time for Christopher Nolan’s new film adaptation of the 3,000-year-old epic. Madeline Miller, who reinvented “The Odyssey” in her best-selling novel “Circe,” explains why you shouldn’t be intimidated by the classic. Plus, our critic at large A.O. Scott explains how nearly every genre out there — sci-fi, romance, bloody revenge and more — can be found in this poem’s sprawling tale. Books and Other Works Discussed on This Episode: “Philoctetes,” by Sophocles “The Iliad,” by Homer “The Penelopiad,” by Margaret Atwood “Watership Down,” by Richard Adams “Aeneid,” by Virgil “I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem,” by Maryse Condé “An American Marriage,” by Tayari Jones “The Buddha in the Attic,” by Julie Otsuka Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.