The Odyssey

Format:

Book

Title:

The Odyssey

Uniform Title:

Odyssey. English

Author:

Homer author

ISBN:

9780199925889

9780199925896

9780199360314

Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, [2014]

Physical Description:

xxv, 459 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Contents:

Telemachos in Ithaca -- Telemachos calls an assembly -- Telemachos in Pylos -- Telemachos in Sparta -- Odysseus and Kalypso -- Odysseus and Nausicaa -- Odysseus in the Phaeacian court -- The stranger in town -- Odysseus in the cave of Cyclops -- Odysseus and Kirkē -- Odysseus in the underworld -- Odysseus on the island of the sun -- Home at last -- Odysseus in the pig herder's hut -- The pig herder's tale -- Father and son -- The faithful dog Argos -- Presents from the suitors -- Odysseus' scar -- A vision of doom -- The contest of the bow -- The slaughter of the suitors -- Husband and wife -- Father and son.

Summary:

Odysseus--soldier, sailor, trickster, and everyman--is one of the most recognizable characters in world literature. His arduous, ten-year journey home after the Trojan War, the subject of Homer's Odyssey, is the most accessible tale to survive from ancient Greece, and its impact is still felt today across many different cultures. This lively free verse translation, from one of today's leading Homeric scholars, preserves the clarity and simplicity of the original while conveying Odysseus' adventures in a modern style. By avoiding the technical formality of earlier translations, and the colloquial and sometimes exaggerated effects of recent attempts, Barry B. Powell's translation deftly captures the most essential truths of this vital text. Due to his thorough familiarity with the world of Homer and Homeric language, Powell's introduction provides rich historical and literary perspectives on the poem. This volume also includes illustrations from classical artwork, detailed maps, explanatory notes, a timeline, and a glossary. Modern and pleasing to the ear while accurately reflecting the meaning of the original, this Odyssey is a superlative translation for twenty-first-century readers.

Subject(s):

Epic poetry, Greek.

Epic poetry, Classical.

Genre:

Epic poetry, Greek -- Translations into English.

Epic poetry, Classical -- Translations into English.

Added Author:

Holds:

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Silver Falls Library	883.01 HOMER	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Salem Main Library	883.01 Homer 2014	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

The Odyssey is one of the world's greatest and best-loved poems. It has survived for twenty-eight centuries, through upheavals that have wiped out most of what was written in the ancient world. Now Barry B. Powell, one of the twenty-first century's leading Homeric scholars, has given us a powerful new translation. Powell's translation renders the Homeric Greek with a simplicity and dignity reminiscent of the original. The text immediately engrosses students with its tight and balanced rhythms, while the incantatory repetitions evoke a continuous "stream of sound" that offers as good an impression of Homer's Greek as one could hope to attain without learning the language. Accessible, poetic, and accurate, this translation is an excellent fit for today's students. Powell exposes them to all of the adventure, cunning, pathos, and humor that are Homer's Odyssey.

Author Notes

Barry B. Powell is the Halls-Bascom Professor of Classics Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he taught for thirty-four years.

Reviews (2)

Choice Review

Odysseus symbolizes the spirit of humankind on a restless quest for the significance of life and for what is new--thus observes Powell (Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison), who here fulfills his promise to follow up his brilliant version of the Iliad (CH, Apr'14, 51-4291) with a rendition of Homer's story, "a tale of revenge--sweet and exquisite--when one man returned from Troy." Accompanying Powell's flexible yet accurate translation (using a "rough five-beat line") is an authoritative 36-page introduction that will be an invaluable aid to readers of Homer, beginners or advanced. In addition, six appropriate maps and several dozen authentic in-text figures that complement the pages where they are placed enhance the volume's indispensability, along with bibliography and pronouncing glossary. The companion website, replete with audio files read by the translator, plot summaries, outlines, and maps, adds to the appeal of this well-thought-out project. This worthwhile edition should serve students of the humanities and classicism well. --Raymond J. Cormier, Longwood University

Library Journal Review

Homer's epic is one of the great works in world literature and among the most influential in the Western tradition. Translator Powell (emeritus, classics, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison) is a poet, distinguished Homer scholar, and an authority on ancient writing systems; this verse translation joins his excellent version of the Iliad. Powell's background informs the attempt to capture the vigor and directness of Homer's language while retaining the stylistic features of repetition and epithets that are part of the oral character of the original. Using a five-beat line, the translator seeks a position between the anachronizing of Robert -Fitzgerald and the modernizing of -Richmond Lattimore, using the Latin version of certain familiar names such as -Achilles and Priam but transliterating those of secondary characters, such as Kalypso and Nausithoos. This edition is supplemented by a number of maps and illustrations drawn from ancient art and includes useful but not overwhelming scholarly apparatus. -VERDICT Powell's fine reading translation is accessible yet true to the feel and sense of the Greek; it is more accurate than -Stanley Lombardo's version and more poetic than that by Robert Fagles.-Thomas L. Cooksey, Armstrong Atlantic State Univ., Savannah (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

List of Maps and Figures	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
About the Translator	p. xiv
Maps	p. xv
Homeric Timeline	p. xxi
Introduction	p. 1
Book 1 Telemachos in Ithaca	p. 37
Book 2 Telemachos Calls an Assembly	p. 52
Book 3 Telemachos in Pylos	p. 66
Book 4 Telemachos in Sparta	p. 82
Book 5 Odysseus and Kalypso	p. 109
Book 6 Odysseus and Nausicaä	p. 126
Book 7 Odysseus in the Phaeacian Court	p. 139
Book 8 The Stranger in Town	p. 151
Book 9 Odysseus in the Cave of Cyclops	p. 169
Book 10 Odysseus and Kirkê	p. 190
Book 11 Odysseus in the Underworld	p. 210
Book 12 Odysseus on the Island of the Sun	p. 233
Book 13 Home at Last	p. 249
Book 14 Odysseus in the Pig Herder's Hut	p. 265
Book 15 The Pig Herder's Tale	p. 281
Book 16 Father and Son	p. 299
Book 17 The Faithful Dog Argos	p. 314
Book 18 Presents from the Suitors	p. 332
Book 19 Odysseus' Scar	p. 346
Book 20 A Vision of Doom	p. 365
Book 21 The Contest of the Bow	p. 377
Book 22 The Slaughter of the Suitors	p. 392
Book 23 Husband and Wife	p. 409
Book 24 Father and Son	p. 420
Bibliography	p. 439
Credits	p. 441
Pronouncing Glossary/Index	p. 443

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Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (2)

Choice Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents