The Iliad / The Odyssey
by Homer
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Book Summary Information
Author: HomerEditor: Bernard Knox
Introduction: Bernard Knox
Translator: Robert Fagles
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Box set
Published: 1999-11-01
ISBN: 0147712556
Number of pages: 1
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Book Reviews of The Iliad / The Odyssey
Book Review: The Bible before the Bible
Summary: 5 Stars
This set of books by Homer was the guiding light of Western culture for about 1000 years: from ~700 B.C. until ~300 A.D. and beyond, until it was replaced by the Old and New Testaments in cultural importance. The philosophers were not nearly so important as Homer. In Egypt, more than half the scraps of papyri (dating from the time of Greek dominance in the area) found with segments of books written on them are parts of Homer's works. Plato and Aristotle account for less than ten percent, playwrights make up the remainder. It was thought good to memorize both epics. Education focussed on them almost exclusively as did art, and other works of literature tended to base themselves on them or to echo them strongly. In the poems was seen the art of persuasive speaking and bravery: the two most important attributes for a person living at that time. We can still learn the same from the epics today. About half of the epics are eloquently and powerfully worded speeches, their other half describes a brutally tough, nearly merciless, view of the world which instills first fear and then courage in a reader (if read with full absorption). I could almost not bear to read the Iliad the first time due to the utter violence and gore of many of the scenes. But now, having read it for the seventeenth time, and having considered the real state of affairs in most of the world even today, I have accepted all the unfairness, loss, early death and carelessness experienced by the characters as all too indicative of the human condition. The complacent incompetence and/or lack of care displayed by both leaders and gods in the epics is frighteningly realistic and all too telling of how power really does work in our world. The pure mercilessness of the epics and the total solitude of individuals in the face of dangerous forces is a cruelly real portrayal of our human lives. This set is not for somewhone who wants to read a cute fantasy story where the good beat down the bad and everyone lives happily ever after, enough to fill a summer's afternoon. These are books for the tough minded, for the ambitious and if I may be permitted to say so, for those of a powerful intellect (of which the reviewer is perhaps the exception that proves the rule). They were written as convincing tales for the Greeks about their Mycenaean warrior ancestors whom they expected to be stronger, braver and cleverer than themselves. Only the greatest of storytellers and the keenest observers of human affairs can provide such an epic for a people while at the same time create an exciting read (or listen, in Homer's time). This set is a holder of wisdom and not of fine words only. It is of the greatest benefit for the serious reader. A note on the translation: I have compared sections of this set with the originals. These translations are not word-for-word. Be this as it may, there is often more to desire in a translation than mere rigid attention to exactness if one wishes to create a modern classic and not merely a dusty reference book for some scholars. The greeks themselves continually made new versions of the Iliad, updating the language for the reading public (never discarding the original of course, which was memorized, studied, quoted etc). The Romans as well had their line by line translations into up-to-date latin. We need ours too. This set by Robert Fagles with his most excellent sensitivity to the force and passion of the English language fulfills this need for us. The original still sits there for reference and for those sufficiently skilled among us for reading, but these wonderful translations are necessary so as to make the Iliad useful for english speakers in our english speaking lives. The epics of Homer have carried in them the essence of our Western soul from our very beginnings as a civilization and now Robert Fagles has equipped us with their majestic thunder and bright flash so that they are ever ready for us if ever we wish to be reinvigourated by them.
Summary of The Iliad / The Odyssey
A beautiful gift set of Robert Fagles' award-winning translations of HomerGripping listeners and readers for more than 2,700 years, The Iliad is the story of the Trojan War and the rage of Achilles. Combining the skills of a poet and scholar, Robert Fagles brings the energy of contemporary language to this enduring heroic epic.
If The Iliad is the world's greatest war story, then The Odyssey is literature's greatest evocation of every man's journey through life. Here again, Fagles has performed the translator's task magnificently, giving us an Odyssey to read aloud, to savor, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery.
Each volume contains a superb introduction with textual and critical commentary by renowned classicist Bernard Knox.
* Deluxe paperback editions with French flaps and acid-free paper in a handsome slipcase
* Robert Fagles is the recipient of the 1997 PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters
* The Iliad was a New York Times Notable Book and won the 1991 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award by The Academy of American Poets, an award from the Translation Center of Columbia University, and the New Jersey Humanities Book Award
* The Odyssey was chosen by Time as one of the ten Best Books of 1996
This is a boxed gift edition of Fagles's two widely acclaimed translations of Homer.
The Iliad is typically described as one of the greatest war stories of all time, but to call it a war story does not begin to describe the emotional sweep of its action and characters: Achilles, Helen, Hector, and other heroes of Greek myth and history in the 10th and final year of the Greek siege of Troy. The Odyssey is, quite simply, the story of Odysseus, who wants to go home. But Poseidon, god of oceans, doesn't want him to make it back across the wine-dark sea to his wife, Penelope, son, Telemachus, and their high-roofed home at Ithaca. The story is told in easy-going, beautiful poetry; the characters speak naturally, the action happens briskly. Even the gods come across as real people, despite the divine powers they exercise constantly. Both works have been hailed by scholars and the public for the powerful language that brings clashing, pulsing life to these ancient masterpieces.
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