literatureFriday, July 17, 2026
Today's literature coverage splits between the ancient and the modern. Christopher Nolan's take on The Odyssey is generating analysis of the epic's ending, while two Paris Review interviews with Ralph Ellison and Toni Morrison resurface as essential craft documents. A musician's memoir and a summer reading list round things out.
Two pieces examine Homer's epic from different angles, both tied to Nolan's upcoming film.
Bilge Ebiri's analysis digs into Nolan's reading of the epic's ending, framing the 'people from the sea' as a key to the poem's themes of homecoming and violence. It connects the ancient text to contemporary geopolitics in a way that suggests Nolan's adaptation will be anything but straightforward.
This piece maps out what happens to Odysseus after The Odyssey, covering the lost Telegony, Dante's condemnation, and Tennyson's restless Ulysses. It's a useful companion to the Nolan news, showing how the character's afterlife has been as contested as his journey home.
Two classic craft interviews with Ellison and Morrison are making the rounds again.
Ellison's 1953 interview, fresh off the National Book Award for Invisible Man, is a masterclass in thinking about American fiction as a democratic art. He talks about the novelist's role in describing and creating American experience, which still resonates today.
Morrison pushes back against being called a 'poetic writer' and discusses power dynamics in female friendships under domination. The interview is a sharp look at her craft and the political weight she carries as a black woman writer.
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