TOS Weekly - The Odyssey's Crucial Flaw and A Lost School of Rational Poetry
Plus the six Ps of success and happiness, Ayn Rand: America's comeback philosopher, Einstein's pivotal letter to FDR, and Tom Brady's first-handed approach to achievement
Welcome to TOS Weekly!
Christopher Nolan’s movie adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey is taking movie theaters by storm. That’s directing a lot of attention at the original work and the movie’s differences from it. Many of those differences are down to the cultural context that gave rise to the original story—a context that imbued it not only with heroism but also mysticism. In “Odysseus and the Limits of Ancient Heroism,” John Devlin shows how that mystical context undermines the story’s heroism, while also paying tribute to the story’s important role in pioneering the concept of a rational, heroic protagonist.
Those of us who have been deeply affected by Ayn Rand’s ideas struggle to imagine what the world would have been like had she not been able to escape Russia in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution. Although thankfully she did, many others did not. Among them may have been countless great minds who could have contributed to philosophy, art, and more. This week, in his first article for TOS, Georgy Sinitsky profiles a group of poets who, despite the mystical, collectivist nature of Russian culture at this time, briefly created a remarkably reality-oriented school of art in opposition to all that prevailed around them. Perhaps, had their movement not been snuffed out by the repression of communism, they might have affected the course of 20th century culture much more significantly.
I hope you enjoy this week’s articles,
Thomas F. Walker
Managing Editor
New This Week
Odysseus and the Limits of Ancient Heroism
Although the Odyssey is a deeply heroic work that pioneered the idea of centering a story on a rational, proactive character, it also depends upon a premise fundamentally opposed to the conditions that make heroism possible.
The Morning of Acmeism: The Forgotten School of Reality-Affirming Poetry
Anyone concerned with the nature of language, with the role of form in art, or with the possibility of a reality-oriented aesthetics will find value in Acmeism.
From the Archive
Ayn Rand: America’s Comeback Philosopher
America has strayed far from her founding principles. In doing so, she has not become “great” or “just”; rather, she has become increasingly statist and unjust.
This Week’s Anniversaries
Einstein’s Pivotal Letter to FDR
On August 2, 1939, Albert Einstein, a German Jew who fled to America after Hitler came to power, sent President Franklin Delano Roosevelt a letter that would play a critical role in America’s victory in WWII.
Tom Brady’s First-Handed Approach to Achievement
Tom Brady says, “I have a real strong fire that burns based on me never wanting to let myself down. Giving less than my best effort is a hard thing for me.” This has been key to his tremendous success.
“I support and subscribe to The Objective Standard because I find the articles to be carefully well done, fully analytic, and thoroughly interesting.” —Doug