The Odyssey

Great, book needed for uni studies, good for those who are interested in poetry as I needed this for my creative writing part of my English Degree.

As with The Iliad, most adults in the western worldknow this one, albeit in broken pieces as individualtales. Read it, trust me, you'll end up immersed in aworld of classical literature. There are enough booksout there in this genre to keep you going for the restof your now more interesting, and interested, lives.

Robert Fagles's translation of Homer's Odyssey is highly readable and fast-paced. It's an enjoyable read. The same cannot be said for Bernard Knox's lengthy Introduction.The crafty, deceitful, vain, and yet often admired and respected Odysseus springs to life (as do other characters and situations) in this epic tale of wandering, militarism, hospitality, savagery, and domesticity and the conflicts between them.The structure of the story may strike the modern reader, used to the novel, biography, history, and modern poetry, as odd. Homer's repetitions, parentheticals, diversions, and effusions can seem strange. Sometimes it seems that Odysseus wanderings are no more than a framework from which to hang disparate adventure stories. But, of course, that's also part of the poem's allure as the reader tries to see and experience the poem as an ancient Greek listening to it would have.The end notes are also by Knox, who, unlike in his Introduction, seems here to have skimped: more explanation and depth would have been appropriate.

For nearly three thousand years the poems of Homer have thrilled listeners of every culture and epoch. Allusions to The Iliad and The Odyssey are so pervasive in our western culture that they are almost required reading for anyone who wishes to study western literature.Briefly, The Odyssey is the telling of the many adventures of the Greek Chieftan Odysseus (also known as Ulysses) during his long journey home. Filled with tales of the heroes and gods of ancient Greece, Homer's poems are noted for the masterful use of wonderfully illustrative similes and metaphors, which become all the more wonderful with the understanding that Homer is believed to have been blind!Translations of Homer which try to adhere to the original poetic structure and be as literal as possible are immensely difficult to read by all but the most focused scholars. Other translations have completley deviated from any resemblance of poetry in an effort to be more accessible to the average reader. Here Mr. Fagles has achieved a translation which is not only easy to read and understand, but which retains the poetic lyricism of the original.Homer's works should be on the bookshelf of anyone who is interested in the classics, and with this translation you don't have to be a University Professor to appreciate them.

I paid for and it was described as a hardcover. A soft cover arrived. I’m returning it as I’m not happy to pay over double, if it’s not hardcover.