a book
The Odyssey
Homer and translated by Emily Wilson · 1999 · 560 pages
The great epic of Western literature, translated by the acclaimed classicist Robert Fagles
Soon to be a major motion picture directed by Christopher Nolan
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.
Soon to be a major motion picture directed by Christopher Nolan
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.
recommended by 24 people
sourced from public statements
Ryan Holiday
“Re-Read The Masters You were in high school when you read The Great Gatsby for the first time. You were just a kid when you read The Count of Monte Cristo or had someone tell you the story of Odysseus. The point is: You got it right? You read them. You’re done, right? Nope. We cannot be content to simply pick up a book once and judge it by that experience. It’s why we have to read and re-read.”↗
Nassim Taleb
“In Book 12 of the Odyssey, the hero encounters the sirens, on an island not far from the rocks of Charybdis and Scylla.”
Natalie Wynn (Contrapoints)
“Revenge is such a popular plot line because it's easy for people to identify with a revenge-seeking protagonist. And it's just the easiest way to hype people up about spectacles of violence. This technique was used in one of the first books ever, "The Odyssey" by Homer. I stole this copy from my high school and I stole this copy from my college. I still just read the SparkNotes. Well, let's read it now. See, I knew this would be useful someday.”
PewDiePie
“I also have a really old edition of The Iliad and the Odyssey which I'm very proud of a lot. It's probably one of my favorite books ever written highly recommend reading it.”
Anthony Scaramucci
“"Read the Iliad and follow it up with the Odyssey. It’s all there. I wish I re-read it before I went into the White House. https://t.co/wrCbkBcckt"”↗
Michael Pollan
“…And not just because there are so many great barbecue scenes. (Henry Fielding called The Odyssey’s ‘Homer’s wonderful book about eating,’ and wasn’t too far off.) But there’s lots to be learn about story structure too, and why it’s often a good idea to begin in the middle.”↗
Yara Shahidi
“The Odyssey was first book I read with my Grampie at four years old and was my introduction to the mesmerizing tales of Roman and Greek Mythology. Not only is this book a classic, with plenty of recognizable tales, but truly a whimsical experience of triumph, love, and hardship.”↗
Kazuo Ishiguro
“A magical experience, this 2,700-year-old poem reads to a surprising extent like a modern novel. It has a sophisticated structure, with alluring subplots and flashbacks supporting the central story of Odysseus, the exhausted, traumatized veteran of the Trojan War, and his decadelong struggle to get back home across a wonderfully evoked world of strange islands and dangerous seas. It’s about the memory of home and the fear that it may no longer correspond to reality, the sadness of losing comrades, the kindness of strangers, the will to keep going against relentless obstacles, and a whole lot more. Robert Fagles’s translation is full of startling, lovely phrases, giving weight to the view that for all its narrative drive and psychologically complex characters, this work should be read as verse.”↗
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