The Odyssey: A Verse Translation Backgrounds Criticism (Norton Critical Editions)

Rating:
Summary: A Good Translation of a Great Poem
Review: Albert Cook's is the only verse translation of the Odyssey to rival Lattimore's: slightly less literal, but also more readable.

Rating:
Summary: Must Read
Review: I'm not going to review Homer -- Homer gets ten stars. If you haven't read Homer, you're not an educated person.

If I had to rate the additional material in this edition on its own merits, I'd have to give it something less than five stars. Four, probably. The glossary is useful, and the "Backgrounds" (a brief excerpt each from Kirk and Nilsson and then snippets from various archaic authors commenting on Homer) are worthwhile and sometimes amusing. But the "map of probable locations for legendary places mentioned in The Odyssey", for instance, is silly. And the essays in the "Criticism" section seem randomly-themed and of hit and miss quality.

But the additional material is all just icing on a very good cake. Cook's translation is readable and delightful. He carefully maintains the repetitions and line units of the original, so a reader of the English translation can get some sense of what the Greek feels like. Well worth reading.