FARMINGTON — The Shiretown Bookers are proud to announce their spring exhibition, “To Sail Beyond the Sunset: the Influence of the Odyssey,” running from March 15, through June 15, in the Bookers’ gallery area in Mantor Library,  116 South St.

“The Odyssey” of Homer,” taken together with “The Iliad,” constitutes the oldest surviving work of Western Literature. The story of Odysseus’ homeward wanderings has stirred the adventurous imagination for nearly 3,000 years and has served as inspiration for many of our great poems, tales, novels, and movies. “Ulysses,” by James Joyce, which follows the plot of the Odyssey through a day in Dublin in 1904, is widely acclaimed as the greatest novel of the twentieth century.

Odysseus has wandered into other works as well. He appears in Dante, in Shakespeare in Katzanzakis, in Robert Graves and Zachery Mason, and in the post-modern works of John Barth. Penelope has figured in a literature of her own, inspiring strong feminist works by Atwood, Leclerc and La Spina. 

The Shiretown Bookers (The Community Friends of Mantor Library) are a group of book-lovers and collectors who support the university library by fostering its relationship with the community. The group provides free exhibitions and lectures on bookish subjects throughout the year.

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