The Odyssey (Penguin Classics)

The epic tale of Odysseus's journey home - one of the earliest and greatest works of Western literature

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.

E. V. Rieu's translation has long been beloved and celebrated by scholars and readers alike, and for this Penguin Classics edition, classicist D. C. H. Rieu has revised the work of his father. This edition also includes an introduction by Peter V. Jones.

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.

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416 pages

Average rating: 7.58

24 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

MoxyMakesGood
May 08, 2024
10/10 stars
E.V. Rieu’s translation of Odysseus's 10-year journey home after the Trojan War. It's a classic example of the mythological hero's journey. I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in Greek mythology or a desire to learn more about mythological story structure, motifs, and concepts.

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