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Summary: Robert Fagles is the man
Review: Ever since I started learning Koine Greek I keep having the thought that I must at some point pick up Classical Greek in order to read Homer in the original. Thoreau said that all men must read Homer in the original. Maybe he is right. I don't know.If Homer is half the poet that Robert Fagles's translation makes him out to be--it will be well worth the effort. In his book "How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry," Edward Hirsch says that poems are like messages in bottles that make their way unseen across oceans of time and culture to unforeseen readers. When I uncorked this bottle I was blown away by the song it sang. Fagles has impeccable descriptive power, which he blends with stunning imagery and timing. I recommend this book highly...come, be swept along on the heroic tides of this wine-dark sea. Experience the Odyssey the way it was meant to be.
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Summary: A nearly perfect conjunction of elements
Review: Fagle's translation of THE ODYSSEY in the Penguin edition is an almost perfect act of publishing. The translation itself manages to be enormously readable, highly poetic, and extremely accurate, all at the same time. The Introduction by Bernard Knox should serve as a model for all scholars who are called upon to write critical introductions for classic works of literature. And the book design is is extraordinary; this edition of Homer's classic is easily one of the most attractive paperback books in my library. I had read this once before in translation (in the old Rieu version), and then later translated much of it in a second year Greek class. But in neither instance did I enjoy it as much as reading the Fagles's translation. Aristotle did not think that people should study philosophy too early in life, and perhaps that is also true of reading Homer. Part of me feels that we make a mistake in our education systems by making students read THE ODYSSEY before they are in a position to appreciate it. If one looks through the reviews here, a very large number of very negative reviews by a lot of high school students can be found. I find this unfortunate. In part I regret that we are forcing younger readers to read this book before they have fully matured as readers. Perhaps the book and the students themselves would be better served if we allowed them time to grow a bit more as readers before asking them to tackle Homer. THE ODYSSEY is so enormously enjoyable (at least for this adult reader) that it is easy to forget just how very old it is. What impresses me is how readable it is, despite its age. There are very, very few widely read works older than THE ILIAD and THE ODYSSEY. And the gap between how entertaining these works are and those that come before them is gigantic. Try reading THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH or even THE HESIOD and then turning to THE ODYSSEY, and one can grasp my point. This is a very, very old work of literature, but it wears its age lightly. In the end, the greatest praise one can pay THE ODYSSEY is the fact that it can be read for fun, and not just because it is a classic.
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Summary: This IS the translation for this generation
Review: Not much to add except to confirm the above statement. I've read several translations of this work and this is the one, bar none, for the contemporary reader.
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Summary: Stunningly Beautiful and Readable Translation
Review: My wife and I recently decided to read the Odyssey out loud to each other. Immediately we were confronted with the question of what translation we should use. To resolve this, we traveled down to the University of Chicago, that great stronghold of the classics. When we asked which translation to read, we were told that it was Fagles'. We have not been disappointed. When I read the Fitzgerald translation in High School, the language was tedious and pedantic, and I had trouble slogging through it. By contrast Fagles' translation is gripping and beautiful. It is literally a page turner we can't put down. In addition, there is a nice collection of notes at the end with pronounciations and brief descriptions for all names that occur in The Odyssey. The notes on the text at the end go into just the right amount of detail for general readers like us, guiding us through confusing sections but not breaking the flow of the text. I haven't read the length introductory essay, so I cannot comment on it yet, but expect to do so in the future.
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Summary: The Beggar-King of Ithaca
Review: O sing in me, muse... If only Athena would whisper in my ear the review she would write! That said, I feel it would take an Olympian god to adequately convey the richness and scope of Homer's epic poem. The story in "The Odyssey" is elegant and simple. A man trapped on an island far from country and kin finally gains a reprieve from the gods and is allowed to make for home (after an absence of almost twenty years). Odysseus bids farewell to his erstwhile captor, Calypso, and sets out on his homeward journey. Meanwhile, his coming-of-age son, Telemachus, begins his own Athena-led quest to find news of his dad. The home-fires back on Odysseus' native Ithaca are all but extinguished. His faithful wife Penelope continues to wage her battle against an insolent mob of greedy suitors. Not to worry, revenge is a key element in this story! Between Odysseus' struggle to return to sea-girt Ithaca and Telemachus' wanderings to find his dad, a fair amount of Greek mythology and history spills out onto the pages; this amidst athletic competitions, banquets and endless cups of well-mixed wine. At the same time the reader is getting an education in Greek hospitality and sport, a lexicon of gods and monsters is unfolded before us. No one really knows if Homer existed, or even if there was a Troy. None of this matters. "The Odyssey" is about heroes and scoundrels, courage and fear, life and death. It is about dedication and strength, respect and pride. "The Odyssey," one might also add, is about cunning and craftiness; he's not called "wily Odysseus" for naught. So read "The Odyssey." Discover for yourself why this story has been around for well over 2500 years, and why it is at the inertial point of Western civilization.
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Summary: Mother of all books?
Review: For a long time, in antiquity, Homer (meaning both the Iliad and the Odyssey) was the basis of all education. No wonder that these epic poems permeated the whole culture. The magnificent Greek drama "continues", so to speak, Homer, and looses any meaning without it. So, reading Homer is essential. Not to mention that poetry hardly, if ever, reached again those summits. The episode of Odysseus and Nausicaa is a love story full of nobility and restraint, a beautiful description of the duties and burden of being a king and a princess. And Odysseus, the great hero, weeps in public as he remembers his fallen friends, for a man is not a god, and that distinction was quite crucial, at that time. Feel the tension created by the terrible presence of Athena, who could be, in a party, say, just about every one. Fagles translation is a joy. I've read The Odyssey in several languages (unfortunately, not Greek), and my preferred one was the French by Victor Berard. Fagles' is as good as that.
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Summary: A magical story told in a readable way
Review: This translation of the Odyssey is one of the best I've ever read, and as a graduate of a classical civilizations degree program, I have had experience with a great many different translations. The wonder and magic of this classic myth are expressed in beautiful language that is remarkably easy to read. The story is conveyed without the poetic langauge being mauled, and without the language itself getting in the way of the tale. I find it encouraging that a young reader found the story "disgusting" and "gory". The tale is indeed both gory and violent. With so many translations, however, the adventure is lost because the reader becomes tangled in a maze of archaic language and puzzling prose techniques designed to mimic the Greek. Kudos to Fagles for bringing The Odyssey back to the people!
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Summary: This is SICK!!!
Review: I thought this story was very gross. I mean come on. We are having to read this book in freshman English. Actually our teacher reads it to us, but it is still disgusting. We are also having to watch the movie of this, talk about gruesome. It's like Scylla comes out of the water and chomps these people out of the ship and blood showers everywhere. I almost threw up every day when we watch this movie. We watch a little each day. I am over there about to puke up my toes and everybody else, all the boys anyway, are saying how cool it is. My boyfriend just laughs when I tell him I almost threw up in there, he is a freshman, so he has to watch it also. I'm sure he thinks it is awesome,but I don't. If you really like gory stories you will like it. If you don't then I wouldn't read it or watch the movie if I were you. I am not saying to listen to me, you can have your own opinion, I'm just saying I don't like it.
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Summary: Speaking my Language
Review: When I was a freshman in high school (some years ago, now), we had to read the Iliad and the Odyssey for English class. At the time, I hated them. Sure, at least the Odyssey had the promise of magic and mythical creatures, but any excitement was lost in the inscrutably dense verse of whatever ancient translation my high school bought from some discount wholesaler. At one point, I even listed The Iliad as one of my least favorite books of all time. Not so anymore--in fact, now both the Iliad and the Odyssey are among my all time favorites, thanks to Fagles incredibly accessible translations. His language captures the feel of ancient Greece without arcane diction or construction. His is a rich, muscular line, perfect for the tales of Odysseus and Achilles. If you were ever turned off by poor translations of Homer's classics, don't miss this opportunity to be turned back on by Fagles masterful translation. These are adventures that put the "action" films at the local cineplex to shame.
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Summary: Captures the rhythm of heroic adventure
Review: This translation just sweeps you away. The language is alive and the rhythm carries you from page to page! It could be a rock opera (if we still had those things). Fagles has hidden one hilarious anachronism. Can you find it?!
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