Is the narrative form exhibited by Homer in the Odyssey, with its constant backward-looking episodes, really a retarding element as Auerbach suggests--i.e. in the manner suggested by Goethe and Schiller (Auerbach 5)--and is it really "opposed to any tensional and suspensive striving toward a goal" as Auerbach suggests? Is it merely a secondary part of the narrative, not bearing upon the purpose of the same--to tell a story? Goethe and Stiller, and Auerbach by his agreement with them, appear to suggest this as a whim of Homer's, a desire to detail past events for their own sake or to prolong the epic form.

I suggest otherwise. I suggest the story of the scar is not an "independent and exclusive present" but rather that it is a presentation of the past to enable an understanding of the future, i.e. the progess forward of the narrative of the Odyssey.

Kierkegaard says that we live life forward but understand it backward. The recognition of Odysseus' scar at that particular point in the story is quite deliberately required by the narrative. Without the presentation of the scar, the whole of Odysseus' past would be invisible to those around him. Odysseus as Odysseus would be invisible. His past would be past, whereas all pasts are really present in the present. Past time is never 'lost'. It is evident for all time. Past time is the only relevant time, for once we acknowledge present time it is already past--and the future does not exist.

Therefore the evidence of the scar is evidence of existence. The bearer of the scar is the bearer of the scar because of the past. It is impossible to 'see' Odysseus otherwise. Odysseus is not present unless he bears the scar and so bears the past. The past cannot be ignored; cannot be hidden. Otherwise, who is Odysseus--he cannot be Odysseus without the evidence of the scar.

Homer's illustration of Odysseus' presence is only validated by reference to the past by way of the scar. It is therefore not an arbitrary decision to bring the past into the present, but an essential part of the epic.

Jean Will