The Odyssey - Softcover

Homer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0862992818 ISBN 13: 9780862992811

Publisher: Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1986

Synopsis

Homer's The Odyssey is an epic that has endured for thousands of years, and this Penguin Classics edition is translated by E.V. Rieu, revised by D.C.H. Rieu, and contains an introduction by Peter Jones.

The epic tale of Odysseus and his ten-year journey home after the Trojan war forms one of the earliest and greatest works of Western literature. Confronted by natural and supernatural threats - from the witch Circe who turns his men into pigs, to the twin terrors of Scylla and Charybdis; from the stupefied Lotus-Eaters to the implacable enmity of the sea-god Poseidon himself - Odysseus must test his bravery and native cunning to the full if he is to reach his homeland safely. But the danger is no less severe in his native Ithaca, as Odysseus finds himself contending with the suitors who, in his absence, have begun to surround his wife Penelope...

E.V. Rieu's translation of The Odyssey was the first Penguin Classic to be published, and has itself achieved classic status. For this edition, Rieu's text has been sensitively revised and a new introduction added to complement his original introduction.

Seven greek cities claim the honour of being the birthplace of Homer (c. 8th-7th century BC), the poet to whom the composition of the Iliad and Odyssey are attributed. The Iliad is the oldest surviving work of Western literature, but the identity - or even the existence - of Homer himself is a complete mystery, with no reliable biographical information having survived.

If you enjoyed The Odyssey, you might like Homer's The Iliad, also available in Penguin Classics.

'One of the world's most vital tales ... The Odyssey remains central to literature'

Malcolm Bradbury

About this title

Review

"[Robert Fitzgerald's translation is] a masterpiece . . . An "Odyssey" worthy of the original." -"The Nation" "[Fitzgerald's" Odyssey" and "Iliad"] open up once more the unique greatness of Homer's art at the level above the formula; yet at the same time they do not neglect the brilliant texture of Homeric verse at the level of the line and the phrase." -"The Yale Review " "[In] Robert Fitzgerald's translation . . . there is no anxious straining after mighty effects, but rather a constant readiness for what the occasion demands, a kind of Odyssean adequacy to the task in hand, and this line-by-line vigilance builds up into a completely credible imagined world." -from the Introduction by Seamus Heaney

About the Author

Homer is thought to have lived c.750-700 BC in Ionia and is believed to be the author of the earliest works of Western Literature: The Odyssey and The Iliad.

E V Rieu was a celebrated translator from Latin and Greek, and editor of Penguin Classics from 1944-64. His son, D C H Rieu, has revised his work.

Peter Jones is former lecturer in Classics at Newcastle. He co-founded the 'Friends of Classics' society and is the editor of their journal and a columnist for The Spectator.

Edition details

• Publisher: Sutton Publishing Ltd
• Publication date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0862992818
• ISBN 13: 9780862992811
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336