The great epic of Western literature translated by the acclaimed classicist Robert FaglesA
Penguin Classic Robert Fagles winner of the PEN Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996
Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters presents us with
Homer's best-loved and most accessible poem in a stunning modern-verse translation. 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. So begins Robert Fagles' magnificent translation of the
Odyssey which Jasper Griffin in the New York Times Book Review hails as a distinguished
achievement. If the Iliad is the world's greatest war epic the Odyssey is literature's
grandest evocation of an everyman's journey through life. Odysseus' reliance on his wit and
wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces during his ten-year
voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War is at once a timeless human story and an individual
test of moral endurance. In the myths and legends retold here Fagles has captured the energy
and poetry of Homer's original in a bold contemporary idiom and given us an Odyssey to read
aloud to savor and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery. Renowned classicist Bernard
Knox's superb introduction and textual commentary provide insightful background information for
the general reader and scholar alike intensifying the strength of Fagles's translation. This
is an Odyssey to delight both the classicist and the general reader to captivate a new
generation of Homer's students. This Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition features French flaps and
deckle-edged paper. For more than seventy years Penguin has been the leading publisher of
classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1 700 titles Penguin Classics
represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and
disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions
and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors as well as up-to-date
translations by award-winning translators.
