奥德修斯与卡吕普索

Odysseus and Calypso

在荷马笔下,卡吕普索出现在开场非常醒目的位置,而且按照荷马的意思,卡吕普索明显连接了奥德修斯的过去和未来,在奥德修斯生命中有着重要的作用。可是,在奥德修斯的回忆中,无论是基尔克的指示,还是特瑞西阿斯的预言,都没有提到卡吕普索,似乎卡吕普索可以忽略不计。然而,奥德修斯的回忆毕竟是他对自己命运的反思,基尔克和特瑞西阿斯对其未来的描述都不过是奥德修斯自己的叙述(编造)而已,因此,与其说两位预言者忽略了卡吕普索,倒不如说奥德修斯有意隐藏了卡吕普索。卡吕普索并不像奥德修斯说的那样无关紧要。那么,探究卡吕普索在荷马和奥德修斯叙述中产生的矛盾,或许能够帮助我们理解奥德修斯拒绝卡吕普索的理由,进而理解奥德修斯选择回家这一主题的真实意涵。

Under Homer’s writing,Calypso occupies a very striking place at the beginning of Odyssey.According to Homer,Calypso combines both the past experiences and the future adventures of Odysseus,and hence plays a very important role in his life.However,it seems that Calypso has nothing to do with Odysseus’homecoming in the light of the instruction of Circe and the prophecy of Tiresias in the restatement of his experiences.In fact,Odysseus’restatement is part his reflection about his past life,and thus the descriptions of Circe and Tiresias are only stales made by Odysseus;therefore,it is not that Calypso is ignored by Circe and Tiresias,but is concealed deliberately by Odysseus.Calypso really has a sharp significance in Odyssey.To solve this contradiction and explore the reason why Odysseus abandons Calypso may help us to know the real meaning of Odysseus’choice of homecoming.