The Odyssey
The great epic of Western literature, translated by the acclaimed classicist Robert Fagles, hailed as “the best living translator of ancient Greek drama, lyric poetry, and epic into modern English” (Garry Wills, The New Yorker)
Now a major motion picture directed by Christopher Nolan
This Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition features French flaps and deckle-edged paper.
“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’s magnificent translation of The Odyssey, literature's grandest evocation of an everyman's journey through life. Odysseus’s reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival against divine and natural forces on 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.
Robert Fagles’s translation of The Odyssey, enhanced with maps, genealogy tables, and pronunciation guides, has been the touchstone translation of Homer’s epic for millions of readers. 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. With an introduction and textual commentary by renowned classicist Bernard Knox, the Fagles translation of The Odyssey will continue to captivate the general reader and scholar alike.
Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing 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.
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
I read this when I was in college decades ago, and it felt like, well, an Odyssey. The Emily Wilson translation (which I'm reviewing here - Bookclubs is acting like they're all the same) is an engrossing page turner and the hundred introductory pages are very interesting (at least to me, a former linguistics and literature student). I almost bought and read this when it first came out, but then didn't until, well, you know. Wilson deserves all the royalties she'll get from it. I'm giving it 8 stars, but it's worth two more if you enjoy delving into the rise and fall of human civilization.
I read this in prep to watch the movie. My first read since high school. Definitely very well written and a great and epic story, but it was a bit of a slog to get through. Very slow at the beginning and just too many characters to track. I did like the Ending and pumped for the movie but I would not read this again.
As with the Iliad, Emily Wilson's translation of the Odyssey is enjoyable, delightfully uncomplicated, and faithful to the epic's oral storytelling roots. It reads smoothly and makes it easy to see why these stories have endured for so long.
Of course, my feelings about the epic itself are about as complicated as the man it's about. This is not a story about a hero. It's a cautionary tale about the dangers of following a self-serving, egomaniacal, and often uncaring leader.
Odysseus, for reasons beyond my understanding, is celebrated as a hero. He's praised for being clever and intelligent, but he wouldn't be trusted with a supervisory role at Popeyes, given the number of decisions he makes that get his men killed along the way. He and his crew steal and eat the Cyclops's sheep and cheese, then somehow find the moral high ground and call him a savage. Odysseus even taunts the Cyclops on the way out, which predictably leads to more deaths. He spends his journey home sleeping with multiple women, yet Penelope is expected to remain perfectly faithful. And Telemachus? This kid deserved more than a few resounding, head-turning slaps for the way he treats his mum throughout much of the story.
Greek mythology is a lot like our modern social hierarchies. The gods are deceitful, greedy, jealous, petty, and only occasionally compassionate, much like corporate overlords pulling strings from above. Kings and lords carry out the gods' wishes and fight their wars, much as middle managers follow orders and are rewarded with a share of the comforts and privileges, provided they remain obedient.
Meanwhile, the burden of morality falls on everyone else. The shepherds, swineherds, slaves, servants, and foot soldiers are expected to be humble, dutiful, kind, and endlessly patient. They bear the consequences of decisions made far above them, and if they step out of line or raise their voice a little too loudly, cruelty or death is never far behind. For all its monsters and magic, the social order in the Odyssey feels pretty familiar.
The other half of Homer's extant epic poetry, this is the tale of that wayward man, Odysseus, as he is driven off course again & again by the anger of Poseidon, stripped of his friends and the trappings of glory he has accumulated through war. Or at least, its the tale that Odysseus sells the Phaeacians so they'll give him a ride home. Maybe he was just in Egypt raiding alongside Menelaus! In any event, Odysseus punishes the suitors of his wife for their ill treatment of his hearth & home.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.