The Lotus Eaters Podcast

A fun, enthusiastic, and scholarly companion podcast to reading the Odyssey (Emily Wilson’s translation) from the hosts of the Very Bad Wizards podcast (also a rec). Tamler Sommers is a philosopher at the University of Houston and teaches the Odyssey regularly in UH’s great books program; David Pizarro is a Cornell psychologist reading it for the first time. They’ve podcasted for 10+ years as VBW, including many episodes on books, movies, short stories, etc., so have honed a comfortable and engaging style for talking about art. The vibe could be called non-toxic masculinity: a decent amount of banter and taking the piss, but they’re also serious academics with a real appreciation for the poem’s strong and complex female characters (Helen, Arete, Nausicaa, Calypso, Circe, Athena, and especially Penelope). Most importantly, they clearly love the poem, and it’s infectious!

Main podcast page: https://verybadwizards.com/episode/the-lotus-eaters-episode-1-the-journey-begins