The Odyssey
Description
The great epic of Western literature, translated by the acclaimed classicist
Robert Fagles A Penguin Classic Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim
Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American
Academy of Arts and Letters, presents us with Homer’s best-loved and most
accessible poem in a stunning modern-verse translation. “Sing to me of the
man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once
he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy.” So begins Robert Fagles’
magnificent translation of the Odyssey, which Jasper Griffin in the New York
Times Book Review hails as “a distinguished achievement.” If the Iliad is the
world’s greatest war epic, the Odyssey is literature’s grandest evocation of
an everyman’s journey through life. Odysseus’ reliance on his wit and wiliness
for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces during his ten-
year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War is at once a timeless human
story and an individual test of moral endurance. In the myths and legends
retold here, 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. Renowned classicist Bernard
Knox’s superb introduction and textual commentary provide insightful
background information for the general reader and scholar alike, intensifying
the strength of Fagles’s translation. This is an Odyssey to delight both the
classicist and the general reader, to captivate a new generation of Homer’s
students. This Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition features French flaps and
deckle-edged paper. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading
publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than
1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works
throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series
to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by
distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date
translations by award-winning translators. Read more
Features:
Product Details:
- Publisher : Penguin Classics; Reprint edition (November 29, 1999)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 541 pages
- ISBN-10 : 7
- ISBN-13 : 67
- Reading age : 18 years and up
- Lexile measure : 1050L
- Item Weight : 1.32 pounds
- Dimensions : 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.5 inches