ICAF Blog 3, Thursday 31 March, 2023
The stories we tell
In one of the afternoon workshop sessions, Catherine Koekoek of Rotterdam Wijktheater read aloud a short passage from Adriana Cavarero’s book, Relating Narratives: Storytelling and Selfhood. Caverero is writing about what she considers to be one of the most beautiful scenes in The Odyssey. Well into his ten-year journey, Odysseus has survived yet another a shipwreck and has been washed ashore on the land of the Phaecians. He does not reveal his identity to them, and is welcomed to their court as a courtesy given to a visiting guest. During the entertainment at the banquet that night, a blind storyteller sings the story of the legendary Odysseus and of his heroic deeds during the Trojan War. Odysseus has lived from moment to moment, year after year, and it has always simply been his life. But now, for the very first time, he hears his life being told as a story and it moves him to tears to acknowledge and affirm all that he has been through.
icafrotterdam.com/blog/2023/03/31/will-weigler-icaf-blog-3-the-stories-we-tell/
