
The Odyssey:
by:
Homer
Edition: Translation
Language: English
Format: Hardcover
ISBN 10: 1451674171
ISBN 13: 9781451674170
Publication date:
October 1st, 2013
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 432
Genres: Science Fiction, Thriller & Suspense, Action & Adventure, History, Humor, Poetry, Health & Wellness
A brilliant new version of the Odyssey from one of the most accomplished translators of our time.
Stephen Mitchell’s Iliad caused a stir on its publication and was chosen as one of the New Yorker’s favorite books for 2011. Now Mitchell brings his vivid poetic power to the Odyssey, the original epic voyage into the unknown that has inspired other creative work for millennia—from ancient poems to modern fiction and movies. With its consummately modern hero, full of guile and wit, always prepared to reinvent himself, the Odyssey is perfectly suited to our times. Mitchell’s translation brings it to life for those who have never read it before or have tried and given up.
Twentieth-century translators of the Odyssey were either too literal or overreached for poetic effects, which produced awkward syntax and made the story hard to follow. Mitchell’s version keeps the syntax straightforward and the diction close to spoken English, yet his meter re-creates the oceanic music of the ancient Greek. In addition, this is the first translation to benefit from advances in modern textual scholarship.
Just as Mitchell “re-energized the Iliad for a new generation” (The Sunday Telegraph), in his Odyssey he has created the noblest, clearest, and most captivating rendition of one of the defining masterpieces of Western literature.
Stephen Mitchell’s Iliad caused a stir on its publication and was chosen as one of the New Yorker’s favorite books for 2011. Now Mitchell brings his vivid poetic power to the Odyssey, the original epic voyage into the unknown that has inspired other creative work for millennia—from ancient poems to modern fiction and movies. With its consummately modern hero, full of guile and wit, always prepared to reinvent himself, the Odyssey is perfectly suited to our times. Mitchell’s translation brings it to life for those who have never read it before or have tried and given up.
Twentieth-century translators of the Odyssey were either too literal or overreached for poetic effects, which produced awkward syntax and made the story hard to follow. Mitchell’s version keeps the syntax straightforward and the diction close to spoken English, yet his meter re-creates the oceanic music of the ancient Greek. In addition, this is the first translation to benefit from advances in modern textual scholarship.
Just as Mitchell “re-energized the Iliad for a new generation” (The Sunday Telegraph), in his Odyssey he has created the noblest, clearest, and most captivating rendition of one of the defining masterpieces of Western literature.