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The Odyssey
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Original price was: $18.95.$15.14Current price is: $15.14.
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A New York Times Notable Book of 2018
“Wilson’s language is fresh, unpretentious and lean…It is rare to find a translation that is at once so effortlessly easy to read and so rigorously considered.” ―Madeline Miller, author of Circe
Composed at the rosy-fingered dawn of world literature almost three millennia ago, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty and power; about marriage and family; about travelers, hospitality, and the yearning for home.
This fresh, authoritative translation captures the beauty of this ancient poem as well as the drama of its narrative. Its characters are unforgettable, none more so than the “complicated” hero himself, a man of many disguises, many tricks, and many moods, who emerges in this version as a more fully rounded human being than ever before.
Written in iambic pentameter verse and a vivid, contemporary idiom, Emily Wilson’s Odyssey sings with a voice that echoes Homer’s music; matching the number of lines in the Greek original, the poem sails along at Homer’s swift, smooth pace.
A fascinating, informative introduction explores the Bronze Age milieu that produced the epic, the poem’s major themes, the controversies about its origins, and the unparalleled scope of its impact and influence. Maps drawn especially for this volume, a pronunciation glossary, and extensive notes and summaries of each book make this is an Odyssey that will be treasured by a new generation of readers.
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Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Product name:
The Odyssey
Price:
Original price was: $18.95.$15.14Current price is: $15.14.
Mr. David Mcgiveron –
This book is gorgeous… I love just picking it up and flicking through the pages!
The double-edged binding gives the pages a real sense of a dusty old folio, being passed on down the ages. Makes me Inner bookworm go ‘squee!’ 😅
There’s a fascinating introduction and translation notes to help immerse you in the history of the work, and a lovingly laid out retelling in iambic pentameter that eaisly keeps the flow and drive of Homer’s epic.
Very pleased with this purchase!
John L Bundstein –
First off please, please read the preface material! I always thought that I knew the story, well let me tell NO I did not. Or should I say I didn’t understand it!! This translation completely changed my mind! Yes the “hero” did go through all the trials and tribulations related, but his motivation and responses take on a very different character in this version. And he is “a hero” with faults and a person of a very different age. Many things that are sort of glossed over in traditional translations become kind of creepy and very self serving. I am still struggling to work out just how I fell about him now. Do not get me wrong this is still the beautiful story it has always been and this is a masterful translation. But maybe that is just what growing up is all about, learning to love our heroes warts and all!
Foucault’s Pendulum –
Love the design and translate 👍
Meg –
5 stars for the translation by Emily Wilson.
3.5 stars for the actual Odyssey.
Wilson does a phenomenal job at translating the famous epic poem, and the audiobook was delightful to listen to. But oof the pacing of the epic was not what I remembered. I remembered a lot of moralizing…but this was even more moralizing than even that. Wilson’s translation choices make this accessible and fresh, which I loved.
Mr. David Mcgiveron –
Ich schreibe diese Rezension nur, weil viele scheinbar beim Bestellen nicht lesen. Das Buch kommt mit “rauem Buchschnitt” oder auf Englisch mit “deckle edge”. Das ist beabsichtigt und kein Fehler. Diese Art der Buchbindung wurde früher aus Kostengründen gemacht und wird heutzutage gern aus stilistischen Gründen eingesetzt.
Ob man das mag ist Geschmackssache, aber es ist kein Grund ein Buch negativ zu bewerten.
Laufhase –
used it for reading
Irene Grumman –
I like the intro, a useful orientation to something I always thought I should read. The voice actors bring the characters to life. I haven’t finished listening to the story.
gabyy –
Es una edición visualmente bella. Quería adquirir la traducción de Emily porque había visto varias recomendaciones. Tenía un poco de miedo porque no suelo leer en inglés pero lo que llevo no se me ha hecho pesado y he disfrutado bastante la lectura.
Arthur Digbee –
In high school and college, I had been assigned extracts from Homer, translated in stiff and stuffy styles. I was not impressed. I did not pursue his books further further until I read about this new translation by Emily Wilson. It was worth the wait.
Wilson’s text reads well while retaining a poetic style in translation, a major achievement in itself. Even better, she does so while avoiding the masculine-centered assumptions of other translators. This does not mean changing Homer, who wrote in and about a patriarchal world, but instead trying to see the women as Homer did, and not as a Victorian Englishman would. (I exaggerate, but you get the idea.)
You can see Wilson’s perspectives in her extensive introduction, most of which you can see in Amazon’s “Look Inside!” feature. Unfortunately, you can’t preview her “Translator’s Note,” which explains her decisions about style and other matters. The introduction includes passages from her translation, so read those and see what you think.
I read the book on Kindle, and it worked well as an epic narrative. Some reviewers object to Wilson’s style because they don’t like how it sounds when read aloud. Sample some excerpts on the page and out loud and see what works for you. Wilson’s translation is grammatically simpler than those in the critical reviewers’ preferred translations, so try comparing those. The style feels somewhat like a Germanic epic to me, which suggests connections to a shared Proto Indo-European style lost to history.
It’s possible that the critical reviewers prefer stuffy translations, and they may prefer them as a matter of English style or as a matter of Homeric Greek (which I don’t read). Read some of the three-star reviews before making a decision. I certainly found this translation a great read.
Talor –
I once tried to read the Odyssey back in high school and I struggled so much to understand it, that I couldn’t finish it. The only thing I remembered from it all those years later was the description of “dawn’s fingers” across the sky with each morning. This translation was so much cleaner and I truly enjoyed every minute of reading it. It was beautiful and I truly understand the love of this epic. I wish I had this translation back in high school. I would have enjoyed and understood it so much more.
Andrea L. Stoeckel –
” Poets are not to blame for how things are; Zeus is; he gives to each as his will.”
And so it begins: the finest piece of historical fiction ever written. Was it truth? Was a blind poet/singer/tale spinner named Homer the author of the tale? Or was it strung together from many sources? Does it even matter? All we know is that something kept this story alive from the times of the “Hellens” [the Greeks’ name for themselves] and the “barbarians”[ anyone else] to the 21st century. It is often the introduction to poetry and Ancient History in First World classrooms, where students are confused and terrorized by the images it spins.
The story of Odysseus, his bravery, his stupidity, his cunning, his vulnerability; of Telemachus, a sin grown up without a father, simply trying to salvage any kind of life out of the shreds of his fortune the suitors haven’t eaten, stolen or used- in any way you want to take it; of Penelope, a wise but vulnerable woman in a world were voth aren’t to be trusted. Add the gods and goddesses who use them all in a huge game of chance, and that’s the daytime serial called “The Odyssey of Homer”. And thanks is a large part to a woman professor who spent years pouring over other translations, this is the most accessible translation out there.
I can’t remember when I first read/heard The Odyssey; but I do remember when it first captured me. In a class called “The Bible as Literature” in college we read both the Iliad and the Odyssey in a much more accessible form: a prose version which until probably 5 years ago was still available through Barnes and Noble publishing/ I became enamoured with the soap opera feel of the story and the morality it supported (or didn’t). That class gave me my still favorite book, and I have collected/read many riffs on it since in books like Katenzakas’ version, Fagles’translation, “Cold Mountain”, “Life of Pi”, “Graffiti Bridge “, “Ithaca”, and others including the book “Circe” from 2019.
This is a much longer review, and more personal than I am wont to right. I hope it reflects both my love of the poetry and story, and my respect for Emily Wilson. I am so glad to finally get this book to add to my collection, for the introduction and maps alone. Highly Recommended 5/5