Authors: Homer, Robert Fagles (Translator), Bernard Knox (Introduction), Bernard Knox
ISBN-13: 9780140268867, ISBN-10: 0140268863
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Date Published: November 1997
Edition: Translation by Robert Fagles
Ancient Greek poet Homer established the gold standard for heroic quests and sweeping journeys with his pair of classic epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey.
Homer's account of the adventures of Odysseus has stood at the center of classical literature for centuries. It is a sweeping story of a great warrior who wanders the world, but also an intensely domestic tale of a loving husband's struggle to protect an enduring union with his faithful wife. Meticulously studied and commented upon by innumerable scholars, The Odyssey remains, nonetheless, a uniquely personal literary experience, startling each new generation of readers with its excitement, its drama, and its remarkably contemporary hero.
Robert Fagles's 1990 translation of The Iliad was highly praised; here, he moves to The Odyssey. As in the previous work, he adroitly mixes contemporary language with the driving rhythms of the original. The first line reads: "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." Hellenic scholar Bernard Knox contributes extensive introductory commentary, providing both historical and literary perspective. Notes, a pronouncing glossary, genealogies, a bibliography and maps of Homer's world are included.
Translator's Preface | ix | |
Introduction | xix | |
1 | Trouble at Home | 3 |
2 | A Gathering and a Parting | 16 |
3 | In the Great Hall of Nestor | 28 |
4 | With Menelaos and Helen | 43 |
5 | A Raft on the High Seas | 67 |
6 | Laundry Friends | 81 |
7 | The Warmest Welcome | 91 |
8 | Songs, Challenges, Dances, and Gifts | 101 |
9 | A Battle, the Lotos, and a Savage's Cave | 118 |
10 | Mad Winds, Laistrugonians, and an Enchantress | 135 |
11 | The Land of the Dead | 152 |
12 | Evil Song, a Deadly Strait, and Forbidden Herds | 171 |
13 | A Strange Arrival Home | 184 |
14 | The House of the Swineherd | 197 |
15 | Son and Father Converging | 213 |
16 | Father and Son Reunited | 229 |
17 | Unknown in His Own House | 243 |
18 | Fights in the Great Hall | 261 |
19 | Memory and Dream in the Palace | 274 |
20 | Dawn of the Death-Day | 292 |
21 | The Stringing of the Bow | 304 |
22 | Revenge in the Great Hall | 317 |
23 | Husband and Wife at Last | 332 |
24 | Last Tensions and Peace | 343 |
Notes | 359 | |
Names in the Odyssey | 409 | |
Bibliography | 417 |