Novel excerpt describes Odysseus returning home in old age
8 reported
A subsection of Georgi Gospodinov’s novel “Time Shelter” presents a short narrative about Odysseus after his return home. In the story, an old and flabby Odysseus, starting to forget, leaves his home secretly one night. He is sick of everything and heads back to see the places, women, and wonders he once encountered, seeking to revisit his memory. Telemachus finds him in the evening collapsed by a boat only a hundred yards from home, with no idea what he is doing there. They take him back to a house with a woman he no longer remembers. The novel’s premise involves building refuges for people with Alzheimer’s that reflect life from past decades, such as the 1960s, but people from the present start wanting to live in them.
What’s reported
The subsection is from Georgi Gospodinov’s novel “Time Shelter.”
Odysseus is described as old, flabby, and starting to forget.
He leaves home secretly one night, sick of everything.
He heads back to see places, women, and wonders he once encountered.
Telemachus finds him in the evening collapsed by a boat a hundred yards from home.
Odysseus has no idea what he is doing there or where he was heading.
They take him back to a house with a woman he no longer remembers.
The novel’s premise: refuges are built for people with Alzheimer’s, reflecting life from past decades (e.g., the 1960s), but people from the present start wanting to live in them.
Key figures
Georgi Gospodinov (author of the novel “Time Shelter”)
Odysseus (character in the novel subsection)
Telemachus (character in the novel subsection)
Sources: marginalrevolution.com
