Memories of Odysseus

The conception of the Other has long been a problem for philosophers. Emmanuel Levinas, best known for his attention to the issue argued that the voyages of Odysseus represent the very nature of Western philosophy : His adventure in the world is nothing but a return to his native land, a complacency with the Same, a misrecognition of the Other. In this text Francois Hartog examines the truth of Levinas’ assertion and, in the process, uncovers a different picture. Drawing on a range of authors and texts, Hartog looks at accounts of actual travellers, as well as the way travel is used as a trope throughout ancient Greek literature, and finds that, instead of misrecognition, the Other is viewed with doubt and awe in the Homeric tradition. In fact, he argues, The Odyssey played a crucial role in shaping this attitude in the Greek mind, serving as inspiration for voyages in which new encounters caused the Greeks to revise their concepts of self and other.