The Odyssey Author: Homer | Language: English | ISBN:
B000OCXGRS | Format: EPUB
The Odyssey Description
Robert Fagles's stunning modern-verse translation-available at last in our black-spine classics line
The Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of everyman's journey through life. In the myths and legends that are retold here, renowned translator Robert Fagles has captured the energy and poetry of Homer's original in a bold, contemporary idiom and given us an Odyssey to read aloud, to savor, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery. This is an Odyssey to delight both the classicist and the general reader, and to captivate a new generation of Homer's students.
- File Size: 1291 KB
- Print Length: 560 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Classic (November 1, 1997)
- Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B000OCXGRS
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,793 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #10
in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Epic - #15
in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Ancient, Classical & Medieval
- #10
in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Epic - #15
in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Ancient, Classical & Medieval
Fagle's translation of THE ODYSSEY in the Penguin edition is an almost perfect act of publishing. The translation itself manages to be enormously readable, highly poetic, and extremely accurate, all at the same time. The Introduction by Bernard Knox should serve as a model for all scholars who are called upon to write critical introductions for classic works of literature. And the book design is is extraordinary; this edition of Homer's classic is easily one of the most attractive paperback books in my library. I had read this once before in translation (in the old Rieu version), and then later translated much of it in a second year Greek class. But in neither instance did I enjoy it as much as reading the Fagles's translation.
Aristotle did not think that people should study philosophy too early in life, and perhaps that is also true of reading Homer. Part of me feels that we make a mistake in our education systems by making students read THE ODYSSEY before they are in a position to appreciate it. If one looks through the reviews here, a very large number of very negative reviews by a lot of high school students can be found. I find this unfortunate. In part I regret that we are forcing younger readers to read this book before they have fully matured as readers. Perhaps the book and the students themselves would be better served if we allowed them time to grow a bit more as readers before asking them to tackle Homer.
THE ODYSSEY is so enormously enjoyable (at least for this adult reader) that it is easy to forget just how very old it is. What impresses me is how readable it is, despite its age. There are very, very few widely read works older than THE ILIAD and THE ODYSSEY. And the gap between how entertaining these works are and those that come before them is gigantic.
The Odyssey Preview
Link
Please Wait...