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The Odyssey (Penguin Classics) Paperback – Illustrated, October 31, 2006
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A Penguin Classic
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.
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.
- Print length541 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin Classics
- Publication dateOctober 31, 2006
- Reading age18 years and up
- Dimensions7.76 x 5.12 x 0.98 inches
- ISBN-100143039954
- ISBN-13978-0143039952
- Lexile measure830L
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Robert Fagles is the best living translator of ancient Greek drama, lyric poetry, and epic into modern English. (Garry Wills, The New Yorker)
Mr. Fagles has been remarkably successful in finding a style that is of our time and yet timeless. (Richard Jenkyns, The New York Times Book Review)
About the Author
In the Iliad Homer sang of death and glory, of a few days in the struggle between the Greeks and the Trojans. Mortal men played out their fate under the gaze of the gods. The Odyssey is the original collection of tall traveller’s tales. Odysseus, on his way home from the Trojan War, encounters all kinds of marvels from one-eyed giants to witches and beautiful temptresses. His adventures are many and memorable before he gets back to Ithaca and his faithful wife Penelope. We can never be certain that both these stories belonged to Homer. In fact ‘Homer’ may not be a real name but a kind of nickname meaning perhaps ‘the hostage’ or ‘the blind one’. Whatever the truth of their origin, the two stories, developed around three thousand years ago, may well still be read in three thousand years’ time.
Robert Fagles (1933-2008) was Arthur W. Marks ’19 Professor of Comparative Literature, Emeritus, at Princeton University. He was the recipient of the 1997 PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His translations include Sophocles’s Three Theban Plays, Aeschylus’s Oresteia (nominated for a National Book Award), Homer’s Iliad (winner of the 1991 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award by The Academy of American Poets), Homer’s Odyssey, and Virgil's Aeneid.
Bernard Knox (1914-2010) was Director Emeritus of Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. He taught at Yale University for many years. Among his numerous honors are awards from the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His works include The Heroic Temper: Studies in Sophoclean Tragedy, Oedipus at Thebes: Sophocles’ Tragic Hero and His Time and Essays Ancient and Modern (awarded the 1989 PEN/Spielvogel-Diamonstein Award).
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Tell me, Muse, the story of that resourceful man who was driven to wander far and wide after he had sacked the holy citadel of Troy. He saw the cities of many people and he learnt their ways. He suffered great anguish on the high seas in his struggles to preserve his life and bring his comrades home. But he failed to save those comrades, in spite of all his efforts. It was their own transgression that brought them to their doom, for in their folly they devoured the oxen of Hyperion the Sun-god and he saw to it that they would never return. Tell us this story, goddess daughter of Zeus, beginning at whatever point you will.
All the survivors of the war had reached their homes by now and so put the perils of battle and the sea behind them. Odysseus alone was prevented from returning to the home and wife he yearned for by that powerful goddess, the Nymph Calypso, who longed for him to marry her, and kept him in her vaulted cave. Not even when the rolling seasons brought in the year which the gods had chosen for his homecoming to Ithaca was he clear of his troubles and safe among his friends. Yet all the gods pitied him, except Poseidon, who pursued the heroic Odysseus with relentless malice till the day when he reached his own country.
Poseidon, however, was now gone on a visit to the distant Ethiopians, in the most remote part of the world, half of whom live where the Sun goes down, and half where he rises. He had gone to accept a sacrifice of bulls and rams, and there he sat and enjoyed the pleasures of the feast. Meanwhile the rest of the gods had assembled in the palace of Olympian Zeus, and the Father of men and gods opened a discussion among them. He had been thinking of the handsome Aegisthus, whom Agamemnon’s far-famed son Orestes killed; and it was with Aegisthus in his mind that Zeus now addressed the immortals:
‘What a lamentable thing it is that men should blame the gods and regard us as the source of their troubles, when it is their own transgressions which bring them suffering that was not their destiny. Consider Aegisthus: it was not his destiny to steal Agamemnon’s wife and murder her husband when he came home. He knew the result would be utter disaster, since we ourselves had sent Hermes, the keen-eyed Giant-slayer, to warn him neither to kill the man nor to court his wife. For Orestes, as Hermes told him, was bound to avenge Agamemnon as soon as he grew up and thought with longing of his home. Yet with all his friendly counsel Hermes failed to dissuade him. And now Aegisthus has paid the final price for all his sins.’
Product details
- Publisher : Penguin Classics; Illustrated edition (October 31, 2006)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 541 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0143039954
- ISBN-13 : 978-0143039952
- Reading age : 18 years and up
- Lexile measure : 830L
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 7.76 x 5.12 x 0.98 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #77,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #64 in Ancient & Classical Poetry
- #85 in Epic Poetry (Books)
- #2,567 in Classic Literature & Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Homer was probably born around 725BC on the Coast of Asia Minor, now the coast of Turkey, but then really a part of Greece. Homer was the first Greek writer whose work survives.
He was one of a long line of bards, or poets, who worked in the oral tradition. Homer and other bards of the time could recite, or chant, long epic poems. Both works attributed to Homer - The Iliad and The Odyssey - are over ten thousand lines long in the original. Homer must have had an amazing memory but was helped by the formulaic poetry style of the time.
In The Iliad Homer sang of death and glory, of a few days in the struggle between the Greeks and the Trojans. Mortal men played out their fate under the gaze of the gods. The Odyssey is the original collection of tall traveller's tales. Odysseus, on his way home from the Trojan War, encounters all kinds of marvels from one-eyed giants to witches and beautiful temptresses. His adventures are many and memorable before he gets back to Ithaca and his faithful wife Penelope.
We can never be certain that both these stories belonged to Homer. In fact 'Homer' may not be a real name but a kind of nickname meaning perhaps 'the hostage' or 'the blind one'. Whatever the truth of their origin, the two stories, developed around three thousand years ago, may well still be read in three thousand years' time.
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Every time I read the story...at different stages of my life...I read different things into the tale. This times, perhaps, I am more aware of the duplicity that is the very substance of the hero, Odysseus. Lies...complex, detailed lies...flow from his lips as easily and quickly as water poured from a flask. True, his lies usually serve a 'greater' purpose, but they are still lies...a fact of which gives Odysseus no problem.
Since reading the 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey' as a teenager, I've always been partial to the directness and overall simplicity of the 'Iliad.' Believability is also a factor. The Trojan War, some of the characters in it and some of the action details are almost certainly based in reality. The 'Odyssey', far lesss so. It seems to be a collection of out-and-out fables in which Odysseus is the primary player. Still....even fables may have echoes of the truth. Could Odysseus have been away from Ithaca for twenty years and would his wife have remained faithful all this time? Quite possibly.
The story of Odysseus' experiences with the goddesses, Circe and Calypso, are fascinating but, of course, fabulous. They also account for most of the time Odysseus spends on his long path home. This might be a fanciful way of dealing with reality. Odysseus may have been captured on his way home and held as a slave. This reality could definitely 'eat up' years of time but the Circe/Calypso stories are far more interesting and add to Odysseus' reputation as a very accomplished ladies man. Later, although, Odysseus has spent so much time as a virtual sexual slave to the goddesses, he happily recounts the adventures to his wife, Penelope. Penelope isn't offended. Afterall, her husband turned down goddesses and eternal blissful life, in favor of return to his wife of many years. It's one heck of a compliment.
There are a couple of other features that I noted that, again, may be rooted in reality. Twice, Odysseus lies that he is from Crete and that he led an unsuccessful attack on the peoples of the Nile Delta. A number of Egyptian accounts report accounts of attacks by 'The Peoples of the Sea'. Could the Achaean Greeks, in their black ships, have been some, or most, of the Sea Peoples?
Also, the death of Agammemnon, should also be noted. This may also be based on reality. Agammemnon, commander of all Achaean Greek forces against Troy, and King of Achaea's most powerful city, Mycenae, is slain by his wife and her lover. The motive is given as sexual infidelity and greed...greed for the throne of Mycenae. In the Odyssey we learn a fascinating 'detail'. Clytemnestra, Agammemnon's murderous wife, slaughters the slave-captive, Cassandra, on Agammemnon's just-killed body.
Hmmmmmm? Why would Clytemnestra kill a valuable slave? Cassandra, of course, was a Princess of demolished Troy and had been violently raped during the destruction of the city. Nevertheless, it would appear that Clytemnestra hated or feared Cassandra. Why? Probably the oldest reason of all...sexual jealousy. Cassandra's murder suggests that the REAL motive for Agammemnon's killing is quite different than usually represented. He may have preferred the company of Cassandra to that of his queen. Clytemnestra reacted with her well-known violence...a woman jilted.
Also, is it conceivable that the Queen, Penelope, could be held virtual prisoner in her own palace...for years...by 100 or so rampaging suitors? The answer must be 'No' but there are some interesting things to note. Odysseus' father, Laertes, would logically be King, but his son, Odysseus, IS King, which leaves a 20 year vacancy to the throne. We learn that Laertes, mourning over his lost son, lives in rags and poverty as a barely surviving farmer. Possible. Depression and/or mental illness. But why not Odysseus' son, Telemachus?
At the time the first suitors might have 'settled in' to pay court to Penolope and to eat up her wealth, Telemachus would have been underaged. The suitors, who would have become more arrogant and confident, would scarecely have Telemachus the opportunity to claim the throne. Still......it's a far-fetched tale.
Ron Braithwaite, author of novels...'Skull Rack' and 'Hummingbird God'...on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico
However, the last 4 disks were so gripping I listened to them one after the other and could hardly wait for the next disk. Part of this was Ian McKellen's excellent, nay, masterful, enunciation and inflection. Part of the excitement is the climatic end when Odysseus returns home. Can you imagine a gripping 3 hour long buildup to the climatic moment when he reveals his return? Nothing else can compare!
I probably identified with the climax more now that I am middle-aged, with a home, a wife, and children approaching adulthood than I could have if I was a teenager listening to this or reading the book. There is little as primal to a mature man as the defense of his home and family.
It is astounding to experience a story this exciting and know it is about 2,800 years old.
I listened to this story on audio CD because I realized that I would never read this story because I have gone so far into my life without reading it yet. I'm very glad I listened to it instead of trying to read it. For one thing, how could I begin to pronounce so many Greek names? If you have started reading the book and put it down, try reading it by following along with this audio book. The audio book is abridged, but it is 13 hours long so I'm sure you would have a lot of text to follow along with.
If you think you know the story of the Odyssey because you've seen a movie based on the story, I will say the story by Homer is much grander and more full bodied than what has been depicted in movies. I'd go so far as to say the movies miss the real point of the Odyssey.
Robert Fagles has also translated the Aeneid and the Iliad. I've listened to those on audio CD as well and liked them all. I am a big fan of Derek Jacobi, who narrated the Iliad. I liked the Odyssey best of all.