Odysséen är ett epos, som tillsammans med Iliaden, brukar tillskrivas Homeros och utgör den äldsta bevarade europeiska litteraturen. Det antas att Odysséen skrevs några årtionden senare än Iliaden, omkring 700 f.Kr.

I tidningen The American Conservative skriver Matt Purple om hur en lärare Lawrence, Massachusettes, tagit bort Odysséen ur undervisningen eftersom den inte anses politiskt korrekt. Artikelförfattaren menar att diktverket ska kritiseras – och det kritiserades även av grekerna under antiken – men inte tas bort:

”Homer’s great works, of course, should not be above criticism, nor were they even for the Greeks who revered and pored over them. Plato and Aristotle both criticized Homer, while the Athenian playwright Aristophanes spoofed Homeric motifs. But the point is that the Greeks made these texts available, held them up as exemplars of beauty and honor, used them to better comprehend their own civilization. What the Greeks did not do was to remove the Odyssey from their curriculum because it contained offensive portrayals of women living in caves. Only modern progressives are so benighted.”

Läs mer i The American Conservative: ”Cancel Culture Goes On An Odyssey” (7/1 2021)