Deborah BECK Odysseus, Menelaus and Demodocus as Storytellers in the Odyssey

This paper evaluates character-storytellers in the Odyssey based on how they construct conversations in their narratives.  It will show that Odysseus resembles Menelaus as a storyteller more closely than he resembles either the poet Demodocus or the primary narrator of the Odyssey.  This study enlarges on previous work on the involvement of a character-narrator in the story he tells by comparing character storytellers to both a character poet and the primary narrator using a uniform and significant feature of narrative construction.  This comparison suggests that, in terms of how different storytellers in the Odyssey construct their narratives, we should separate poets from non-poets rather than characters from the primary narrator.

Over three-quarters of Homeric direct speech occurs in the context of conversational exchanges between two or more characters.  As a result, the presence of conversation narrated in direct speech may be considered a significant aspect of Homeric storytelling technique.  The only Homeric characters who include multiple conversations in direct speech in the stories or poems they tell are Odysseus, Menelaus, and Demodocus.  Therefore, this paper will be limited to these three characters and the stories they tell in Books 9-12, 4, and 8 respectively.  Demodocus and the primary narrator present conversations in the same way.  Menelaus presents conversation in a quite distinct manner.  Odysseus brings a more powerful insight than MenelausÌ to bear on his presentation of conversations, but in two important respects, he represents conversation much more in the manner of Menelaus than in the manner of either Demodocus or the primary narrator of the Odyssey.