Book 11 can be seen as the mid-point in the story Homer is telling and as in other tales it is in the middle of things, the middle of life, that the journey into the nether world, the world of the dead is situated. Here the shades may speak to the wayfarer of unknown mysteries and give clues to the road home.

Part 2 of Gil Bailie's reflections on Homer's Odyssey. Having wandered onto Calypso's island and spent seven years under her care Odysseus longs to return to his wife and home on Ithaca. Sailing away he is punished by Poseidon for blinding the Cylcops and is shipwrecked on Skheria home of the Phaiatians whose beautiful princess, Nausicaa, finds and becomes infatuated with this fast talking stranger. Hosted by king Alkinous Odysseus listens to the the royal bard Demodocos sing of the tales Troy. Will the crafty man of stratagems be able to overcome his contentious spirit to find a quest that is not a conquest and make his way home?

The Odyssey books 9-12: Odysseus departing from the Phaiatians enters the liminal or transitional stage of his attempt to return home. He encounters the laid back lotus eaters who suggest there is really nothing to be so concerned about – the journey is inconsequential; and the Cyclopes who know nothing of human culture and whose single vision lacks parallax with no depth of field or perspective.