THE HERO'S FAILURE IN THE TRAGEDY OF ODYSSEUS:
A Revisionist Analysis

". . . in some sense any reading (psychological, Marxist, poetic, etc.) of Homer could be said to be a kind of allegory to the extent that each dives beneath the surface of the plain text to dredge up the `real meaning' the poet had in mind. Fajardo's analysis does just that, and puts a Christian spin on it. . . . The poem as a whole is seen as a tragedy because the hero, for all his efforts to try to shed his cloak as warrior and don that of poet, does not ultimately value family, home, and civilization. . . . [T]he great value of this book is that it does look at literature as living literature, with a deep moral purpose, and not as a corpse laid out for an experimental autopsy by literary technicians . . . ." - Erling B. Holtsmark

"[Fajardo-Acosta's] step-by-step evaluation of the journey of Odysseus from a consistently pacifistic viewpoint creates an exciting new look at an old poem and explains how several poets of the first rank have historically reacted to the Odyssey in a way which is quite different from our traditional interpretation. We find ourselves, in a sense, looking at a familiar painting from a new standpoint, faced with previously unexpected vistas." - Donald F. Jackson