Inward Odyssey

Study Questions, Spring 2017

W Jan 18 Homer’s Odyssey

Summary: this text is excerpted from a much longer epic poem describing the hero Ulysses’ departure from the city of Troy- he participated in a successful attack on this city described in a poem called the Iliad- and his subsequent attempt to return home to Ithaca. Unfortunately for Ulysses his attempts to get home are repeatedly thwarted, since he angered several gods during the attack on Troy. Although “Homer” is usually named as the author of the piece, there is little evidence of his existence, and since this poem belongs to a Greek oral literature tradition that pre-dates writing, it is likely that many authors added to its contents. The Odyssey was composed c. the 9th century BC.

Note that this translation uses the Roman names for the heroes and the gods- the Greek names that you may be more familiar with are different. For instance:

Ulysses (Roman Name) = Odysseus (Greek Name)

Neptune = Poseidon (god of the Sea)

Jove = Zeus (the chief god)

Mercury = Hermes (the messenger god, and the god of travellers)

Study Questions:

1) Based on this text, what sort of perils faced Greek travelers in the early days of Greek civilization? (read between the lines, past the monsters and gods, to the underlying historical realities).

2) Based on this text, what were some of the characteristics of ancient Greek religion?

3) Which force do you think is more dangerous to Ulysses: the physical dangers he faces, or the temptations that he and his crew encounter during their travels?

M Jan 23 Herodotus' History, pp. 1-30

Summary: Herodotus is a controversial figure- since he was one of the world's first historians, some call him the "Father of History," but others have dubbed him the "Father of Lies" since much of what he writes seems absurd or fantastic today. Herodotus' book has two main goals: to describe the recent war (which ended shortly before Herodotus was born) between the Empire of Persia and the Greek states, and to outline what he knows about the world, its peoples, and their customs. Our excerpts are mainly from chapters pertaining to the second of these goals. Most of Herodotus' information comes from "informants"- indeed, other than a trip to Italy, there are doubts that Herodotus ever left his native Greece during his lifetime. Herodotus' Histories were written sometime before 430 BC.

Study Questions:

How useful is Herodotus' account on Egyptian customs as an indirect source of information for Greek customs of that time period?
How does Herodotus explain apparent similarities between Greek and Egyptian religion?
Why does Herodotus suggest that Persia was unable to overcome the Ethiopians?

W Jan 25 Herodotus' History, pp. 31-61

Study Questions:

To what degree is Herodotus a naturalist (an observer of natural phenomenon) as well as a historian?
How does the tone or style of Herodotus' history change as he moves away from the parts of the world well known to the Greeks (like Persia) and towards the edges of the world (such as Libyans and Indians)?
Overall, do you think Herodotus is a narrative (story-telling) or an analytical (critical and scientific) historian?
According to Herodotus, how does the character of the land and the people change as you move towards the extreme edges of the world?

M Jan 30 The Seven Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor

Summary: the Seven Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor, which are usually included with the Arabian Nights story series, deal with the sea voyages of Sindbad during the ‘Abbasid Dynasty period of middle Eastern History. The author’s name is unknown; indeed, the Sindbad stories were probably woven together from earlier oral histories and earlier tales (such as the Odyssey) and only slowly took their present form. Scholars say that Sindbad’s tales are based largely on dangers that seamen of the time faced while navigating the Indian Ocean. The first stories of Sindbad probably appeared c. 800-900, but it is hard to distinguish between the early stories and later additions.

Study Questions:

If you disregard the fantastic elements of the story, what lessons can we learn from Sindbad's voyages about the realities of the Indian Ocean merchant trade c. 850 AD?
According to the author of Sindbad, what are the features of a good ruler?

W Feb 1 Nasir-I Khusraw, Book of Travels

Summary: Nasir-I Khusraw was a Persian poet, philosopher, writer, and scholar of Isma’ili Shi’ite thought. Before travelling, he worked as a bureaucrat Turkish-ruled Persia, but a heavenly voice in a dream inspired him to go on a pilgrimage. His travels took him through Egypt (ruled at the time by the Shi’ite Fatimid dynasty), Mecca and Medina, Iraq, and the Al-Hassa oasis, ruled at the time by a Shi’ite splinter sect, the Caramathians.Khursraw spent much of his later life as a religious sheikh, preaching Isma’ili Shi’ite doctrines he learned in Fatimid Cairo in his native Persia. According to Wikipedia, which knows all, his Book of Travels “contains the most authentic account of the state of the Muslim world in the middle of the 11th century.”

Study Questions:

Reading between the lines, what can we infer from Khusraw’s account of Egypt about his native Persia?
To what degree are the sharp differences Khursaw describes between civilization in Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula due to different geographic realities?
What can we learn from this text about the religious culture of the 11^th century Islamic world?

M Feb 6 Marco Polo, The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East, pp. 1-23 (sections 1-39)

Summary: Marco Polo was the son of a family of Venetian traders who lived on the northern rim of the Black Sea, which put them in contact with the Mongol Empires (called the Tartars in this account) which had recently contacted much of Asia. Seeking to open profitable trade routes, Marco's father and brother traveled to visit the Mongol Khan, who sent them back as messengers to the Pope, who then sent the brothers back to the Khan as a messenger. By the time they returned, Marco Polo had come of age, and if Marco is to be believed, he was employed by the Great Khan as a civil servant. This gave Marco the opportunity to traveled throughout the Far East (click here for a map) before finally returning home to his native Venice- where he found that his stories were treated with skepticism. Note that some historians have been skeptical as well, and argue that Marco never got as far as China; rather, he got most of his information about the Far East from stories he heard along the Silk Road, a trade route from Europe to China that passed through Mongol territory in Central Asia. Most historians accept that Marco visited China, however. In any case, Marco's account of his travels was written sometime between 1310-1320 AD.

Study Questions:

In the prologue, Marco is telling his own family's story, some of which occurred when he was still a child in Venice; to what degree do you find it unbiased and/or plausible?
What is Marco's opinion of the Saracens (Moslems)?
Overall, what is Marco's opinion of the Tartars [Mongols]?

W Feb 8 Marco Polo, The Book of Ser Marco Polo..., pp. 23-49 (sections 40-63)

Study Questions:

Based on Marco's description of Cambaluc (most likely Beijing), what is lacking in Europe of Marco Polo's day?
Some historians believe Marco never got to China- after all, he makes no mention of the Great Wall, chopsticks, or the custom of foot-binding. Based on your reading, how compelling do you find this argument?
What impression do you get about Marco's religious beliefs?
How do Marco's stories change as he moves into most distant and remote lands, such as Japan, Zanzibar, and the Indonesian Archipelago?

Map: The "Mappae Mundi," also called a T-O map, which shows medieval European assumptions about world geography. It has been marked (roughly) with sites mentioned in Mandeville's Travels, though it is impossible to locate the areas Mandeville mentions with any exactitude.

M Feb 13 The Travels of John Mandeville, Prologue, Ch. 6, 7, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20

Summary: this remarkable book is supposedly the work of John Mandeville, a Christian knight who supposedly traveled the world at around the same time as Marco Polo. Mandeville's work extraordinarily popular, and was taken as true by his contemporaries: indeed, Christopher Columbus supposedly brought a copy of Mandeville's Travels with him as reference work during his own voyages of exploration. Historians today believe that "John Mandeville" never actually existed, and the Travels were the work of a European author who used existing accounts of the world- and his or her own imagination- to write Mandeville's story. Mandeville's Travels were written sometime in the 1350's or 1360's, not long after Moslems had reconquered the Christian crusader states of Syria and Palestine.

Study Questions:

Mandeville opens the book with a call for a crusade, but after reading the first section, to what degree do you think that Mandeville really has a crusader's mindset?
What does Mandeville's (badly informed) lesson on Islam and his discussion of the variant Christian sects like the Jacobites tell us about Christianity in the late Middle Ages?
Why does Mandeville believe that the Crusades against the Islamic world have failed?
How can you reconcile Mandeville's love of bizarre tales (such as in chapter 17 and 18) with the far more scientific view of the universe he displays in chapter 20?

W Feb 15 The Travels of John Mandeville, Ch. 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32

Study Questions:

Some scholars have been amazed by the degree of tolerance that Mandeville shows towards other cultures and their practices- to you agree with that assessment?
To what degree do you think that Mandeville's bizarre stories are cover for his criticisms of European religion and society? Please cite specific examples.
What would you say are Mandeville's basic assumptions about the nature of the world?
Most historians believe that Mandeville spends much of the end of his book constructing a "utopian" or perfect society- based on your readings, what are the characteristics of Mandeville's utopia?

MAP: Ibn Battuta's general location in each of the assigned chapters. Arrows attached to a chapter number indicate that Battuta traveled a long distance over the course of a chapter.

M Feb 20 Ibn Battuta, The Travels of Ibn Battuta, Ch. I, II, IV, VI, VII, IX, XII, XIII

Summary: Ibn Battuta, a Moslem scholar and judge from Tangiers, was one of the world’s great travelers, eventually voyaging over a hundred thousand kilometers over the course of twenty-five years. Battuta’s writings give us a unique glimpse at what the Islamic world was like at the time when Islam was just beginning to decline as a world power. Battuta’s travels also brought him to a number of non-Moslem lands, most notably China. It is important to note that Ibn Battuta’s story was dictated to another scholar, who (according to historians) is the probable source for some of the fanciful and outlandish stories it contains. Ibn Battuta’s account was first written sometime between 1351 and 1377.

Study Questions:

Based on this reading, what sense do you get about political trends in the Islamic World- in other words, what was politics like in the 14th century Middle East?
Based on this reading, how does Islam in the 14th century differ from Islam as practiced today?
Overall, what is the relationship between state (political authority) and religion (spiritual authority) in the Islamic World?
Scholars often describe the 14th century as a time when Islam was culturally at its height, but was politically in steep decline. To what degree does this reading support this argument?

W Feb 22 Ibn Battuta, The Travels of Ibn Battuta, Ch. XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XXI, XXIII

Study Questions:

Ibn Battuta is often unwilling to state his own opinions frankly, but what do you think his overall opinion was about the Empire of Hindustan?
What were some of the perils facing a traveler in the 14th century?
In general, what morals and cultural practices does Ibn Battuta approve of?
What is Battuta's overall impression of China?
Based on your readings, what do you think Battuta's goal or goals were in recording his stories for future readers?

M Feb 27 Cabeza De Vaca, The Journey of Cabeza de Vaca, pp. 1-20

Summary: Cabeza de Vaca (literally, “Head of a Cow”) is one of the captains of a Spanish military expedition to conquer what is now the American South, everything from the southern tip of Florida to the “River of Palms”- called today the Rio Grande. The first section of the reading deals with the military expedition’s inept attempt to conquer the northern section of what is now called Florida, the second with De Vaca’s later life as a captive of the American Indians after he and a few fellow survivors of the original expedition shipwreck in modern-day Texas. De Vaca’s goal, in the second part of the reading, is to work his way westward to modern-day Mexico, which had been captured by the Spanish conquistador Cortés twenty-one years earlier. Cabeza de Vaca's Journey was written in 1542.

Note that the “South Sea”, a term often used in the text, is the Pacific Ocean, which Cabeza De Vaca knows about from the experiences of earlier conquistadors. The “North Sea” is the Atlantic and the smaller bodies of water that feed into it (the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico).

Study Questions:

1) Based on this reading, why did De Vaca’s expedition fail, when other Spanish expeditions like the one into Mexico succeeded?

2) What misconceptions do the Spanish have about the American Indians?

3) The Spanish arrive at a time when native American society is being torn apart by European-brought diseases- to what extent does De Vaca seem aware of that fact?

W March 1 De Vaca, The Journey of Cabeza De Vaca, pp. 20-47

Study Questions:

1) How does the relationship between De Vaca and the American Indians change as De Vaca travels West?

2) How do you explain the apparent miracles that De Vaca and his fellows perform during their journey west?

3) To what extent does De Vaca still consider himself a European by the end of his journey?

4) What do you think De Vaca’s goals and motivations were in writing this text?

M March 13 George Psalmanaazaar, Description of Formosa, Chapters I, III, IV, VII, XIII, and XV

(that’s pages 176-178, 192-198, 198-214, 219-225, 243-248, and 253-260 of the PDF, or 145-147, 161-167, 184-190, 206-209, and 214-221 according to the page numbers on the printed text). It’s like 40 pages of big text, people, don’t freak out.

CLICK HERE for some crazy Illustrations– please look at before reading the text!

Summary: George Psalmanaazaar was born a catholic in France in 1679, and was something of a child prodigy, attaining fluency in Latin by age 6 or 7. He was also a born fraud: after trying (and failing) to travel at public expense in France by claiming to be an Irish pilgrim, he came up with a greater fraud: drawing from missionary reports for the far east circulating at the time, he adopted the guise of a “Japanese heathen” who had come to Europe, eating bizarre foods, speaking an invented language, and practicing odd religious practices. He was eventually “converted” to Christianity by a Scottish priest and travelled to England, where he became very popular by tailoring his message to England’s anti-Catholic sensibilities. His Description of Formosa (he later claims to be Japanese-speaking Taiwanese) draws on multiple sources, including accounts of the Aztec and Incan civilizations as well as Thomas More’s utopia.

Study Questions:

1) To what degree do you think that Psalmanaazaar’s description of the religious system of Formosa a satire on the Catholic church?

2) In your opinion, is Formosa (as described by Psalmanazzaar) a utopia, or a dystopia (in other words, the exact opposite of a perfect society)?

3) Given that Psalmanazzaar’s description of Formosa was wildly popular in England, what can we infer about England at the time that Psalmanaazaar was writing (c. 1704 AD)?

MAP: Locations visited by various characters in Voltaire's Candide.

W March 15 Voltaire, Candide, pp. 20-84 (Chapters I-XX)

Summary: Voltaire was a major writer of the European Enlightenment, a golden age of art, literature, and social criticism. This piece falls definitely into the latter category: in addition to being a clever adventure story, Candide is a brutal (but hilarious) satire of Europe at Voltaire's time, most especially the philosophical notion of "optimism," which held that all events are God's will and thus must somehow be for the best. Voltaire also used Candide to attack religious intolerance, social injustice, and human greed. Voltaire wrote Candide in 1758.

Study Questions:

Based on Candide's experience, what was life like for a soldier in an 18th-century army?
To what degree does Voltaire's character Issachar show that Voltaire was anti-Semitic?
What does the old woman's story tell us about Voltaire's beliefs concerning human nature?
Based on Voltaire's description of El Dorado, what are the characteristics of a perfect society?

M March 20 Voltaire, Candide, pp. 84-144 (Chapters XXI-XXX)

Study Questions:

To what degree do you think that Voltaire agrees with his character Martin, that "man was created by the forces of evil and not by the forces of good"?
Based on Candide, what faults does Voltaire find in his native state of France?
What lesson do you think that Voltaire is trying to teach us with the character of Pococurante?
Do you think that Candide has a happy ending?

W March 22 Ahmad Bin Qassim, Book of the Protector of Religion against the Unbelievers

Study Questions:

M March 27 Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad, pp. 1-36

Summary: this text is excerpted from Twain’s account of his trip to Europe and to the Holy Land that took place in 1867- Twain traveled with a large band of mostly-American fellow pilgrims aboard the Quaker City, an American steamship. Twain is a well-known American humorist, famous for such stories as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

Study Questions:

1) Twain obviously has a poor opinion of the Portuguese- why do you think Twain believes these people are so degraded?

2) Twain obviously has a poor opinion of the Moors and Turks as well- are his critiques different from those he heaped on the Portuguese, or more of the same?

3) What sort of observations does Twain make about the behavior of his fellow passengers on the Quaker City?

4) To what degree does Twain equate the character of a people (such as the Turks) with their form of government?

W March 29 Twain, Innocents Abroad, pp. 36-73

Study Questions:

1) Based on Twain’s writings, is it possible for a Christian to go to the Holy Land without being lead astray by his or her own assumptions and expectations?

2) How do Twain’s observations cause him to rethink his own expectations about the Holy Land?

3) Overall, is Twain more kind to the members of his own traveling party than he is to the Europeans, Arabs, and Turks he describes, or is he critical of everyone? Support your answer.

M April 3 Rudyard Kipling, The Man Who Would Be King

Summary: Ruyard Kipling, best known for his famous poem “White Man’s Burden,” was a prolific late 19^th-early 20^th century writer who often chose topics related to the British Empire. Indeed, Kipling was born to a British family living in Bombay, and had extensive experience in the British colonies himself, serving as a newspaper writer in British India. The Man Who Would Be King, which is based in part on the real-life story of the American adventurer Josiah Harlan, is about an attempt by a couple of British scoundrels to conquer a kingdom for themselves in modern-day Afghanistan. The Man Who Would be King was one of Kipling's earlier works, first published in 1888.

Study Questions:

1) Kipling’s poem the “White Man’s Burden” is considered to be the classic justification for imperialism, so you might expect him to describe British India very favorably- to what extent does he do so?

2) Based on this story, do you think that Kipling is a racist?

3) Some critics believe that Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King was written to show the limitations and weaknesses of the European imperialist project: if so, what are the limitations?

W April 5 Mary French-Sheldon, Sultan to Sultan, Chapters 7-9

Summary: Mary “May” French-Sheldon, an American publisher, translator, and author, was convinced to go on an African exploration expedition by her friend Henry Stanley, the famous explorer who found Livingstone and then descended the length of the Congo River. Her own explorations are far more modest: other than a circumnavigation of a small volcanic lake never before explored, she treads on no new territory. The main novelty in her exploration is the fact that she was a single western woman filling a role almost exclusively occupied by men. Although she starts her expedition in Zanzibar, ruled by an independent Sultan of Omani descent, the area that she is exploring in Africa has recently been colonized by the British and the Germans; in fact, it is not yet clear which country controls which piece of land. Mary French-Sheldon nearly perished on her trip back to the coast from injury and disease but survived to spend much of the rest of her life on the lecture circuit, presenting her accomplishments to appreciative crowds.

The sections we will be reading begin at a point where she has already gathered her expedition (which consists of some soldiers and as many as 140 native porters, mainly from Zanzibar) and reached the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Study Questions:

1) To what degree is this travelogue, and/or the travelogue of Mark Twain, distinctly “American?”.

2) What is Mary French-Sheldon’s opinion about slavery, and the slave trade, in Africa?

3) To what degree has her gender influenced, or biased, her depictions of the African natives?

M April 10 Mary French-Sheldon, Sultan to Sultan, Chapters 10-12

Study Questions:

1) Mary French-Sheldon is exploring Africa during the so-called “scramble for Africa,” when European nations competed to divide Africa between themselves. What is her opinion of European imperialism in Africa?

2) To what degree does her trip into Africa cause her to find faults in “civilized” man?

3) What image emerges from her writings about the state of African women in the late 1800’s?

W April 12 T. E. Lawrence, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Introduction and Chapters 1-4 (pp. 1-25)

Summary: The young T. E. Lawrence was working as an archeologist in Turkish-controlled Mesopotamia when World War I broke out. Recognizing his Arabic language skills, he was recruited to the Geographic Section of the British General Staff in London, then transferred to the Cairo office of the British Military intelligence, where he became an expert on the Arab resistance movement against the Ottoman Turks, who were enemies of the British in WWI. As the war progressed, Lawrence's role in it expanded: although at first he worked primarily as a message-runner between the British military and the Arab rebels, he later took on a more active military role, serving as a spy for the Arabs and even helping direct Arab military strategy. Thanks in part to Lawrence (though how large a part is debated) the Arab rebels successfully weakened the Ottoman army and contributed to Britain's victory against the Ottomans in 1917-1918, only to be betrayed shortly after when France and Britain broke their promises to grant the Arabs independence and divided up the Ottoman Middle East between them. The assigned chapters are from the start of the book, in which Lawrence describes the character of the Arabs and the Turks and recounts his first meeting with the Arab leader Feisal. The excerpts here are taken from the 1926 edition of Lawrence's book.

Study Questions:

What does Lawrence mean when he declares that he "could see things through the veils at once of two customs, two educations, two environments" (p. 8)?
To what degree does Lawrence feel that the Semitic (Arab) character was formed by the harsh environment of Arabia?
Based on what he says about Semitic religion, what sort of sense do you get of Lawrence's own religious identity?
What is Lawrence's opinion about the character of the Ottoman Empire?

M April 17 P. J. O'Rourke, "A Ramble Through Lebanon"

Summary: O'Rourke is an American humorist and satirist in the tradition of Mark Twain. As is clear from this essay, he is a bit of an adventurer as well, willing to risk his life to satisfy his curiosity. It should be noted that O'Rourke is known for his mainly right-wing political leanings- he tends to combine small-government conservatism with a pro-military stance on American foreign policy, though he retains a strong sense of fun from his 1960's childhood.

Study Questions:

To what degree do you think that O'Rourke's observations were influenced by the fact that he normally writes as a humorist?
What is O'Rourke's overall impression of the Lebanese people?
Based on O'Rourke's writings, what does it mean to be an American in 1980's Lebanon?
Based on this reading, where do O'Rourke's sympathies lie in the Lebanese vs. Israel and/or Lebanese vs. Lebanese conflicts?

W April 19 Mourid Barghouti, I Saw Ramallah, ch. 1, 2 & 3 (p. 1-70)

Summary: Barghouti was a Palestinian student born in Ramallah but stranded in Egypt (where he is attending college) following the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Barghouti eventually receives his degree, but as he points out, he has no wall to hang it on- indeed he spends the next 30 years moving to (and in some cases being deported from) various countries. I Saw Ramallah is his account of his 1996 return to his home town in Israeli-occupied territory following thirty years of overseas exile in Egypt and Europe.

Study Questions:

To what degree does the Palestine of the 1990's differ from the Palestine of Barghouti's expectations or his memory?
What does Barghouti mean when he says "politics is the family at breakfast"? (p. 43)
Overall, how optimistic is Barghouti that Palestinians will one day return to the Occupied Territories?
What does Barghouti mean when he distinguishes between the "children of Palestine" from the "children of the idea of Palestine"?

M April 24 Stanislaw Lem, Solaris, pp. 1-105

Summary: Stanislaw Lem is a famed Polish science fiction writer whose career has spanned the second half of the 20^th century. Solaris is the third of four books he wrote concerning the difficulties that he thinks mankind will have when encountering other life forms- difficulties that arise from the human condition itself.

Study Questions:

W April 26 Stanislaw Lem, Solaris, pp. 106-204

Study Questions: