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The Odyssey (The Norton Library)

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The Odyssey Paperback – Deckle Edge, November 6, 2018

by Homer (Author), Emily Wilson (Translator)

4.7 4,873 ratings

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A New York Times Notable Book of 2018

"Wilson’s language is fresh, unpretentious and lean…It is rare to find a translation that is at once so effortlessly easy to read and so rigorously considered." ―Madeline Miller, author of Circe

Composed at the rosy-fingered dawn of world literature almost three millennia ago, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty and power; about marriage and family; about travelers, hospitality, and the yearning for home.

This fresh, authoritative translation captures the beauty of this ancient poem as well as the drama of its narrative. Its characters are unforgettable, none more so than the “complicated” hero himself, a man of many disguises, many tricks, and many moods, who emerges in this version as a more fully rounded human being than ever before.

Written in iambic pentameter verse and a vivid, contemporary idiom, Emily Wilson’s Odyssey sings with a voice that echoes Homer’s music; matching the number of lines in the Greek original, the poem sails along at Homer’s swift, smooth pace.

A fascinating, informative introduction explores the Bronze Age milieu that produced the epic, the poem’s major themes, the controversies about its origins, and the unparalleled scope of its impact and influence. Maps drawn especially for this volume, a pronunciation glossary, and extensive notes and summaries of each book make this is an Odyssey that will be treasured by a new generation of readers.

3 maps

Print length

592 pages
Language

English
Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date

November 6, 2018
Dimensions

5.8 x 1.2 x 8.2 inches
ISBN-10

0393356256
ISBN-13

978-0393356250
Lexile measure

830L
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Popular Highlights in this book

What are popular highlights?

The tension between strangeness and familiarity is in fact the poem’s central subject.
Highlighted by 1,078 Kindle readers
In The Odyssey, we find instead the story of a man whose grand adventure is simply to go back to his own home, where he tries to turn everything back to the way it was before he went away. For this hero, mere survival is the most amazing feat of all.
Highlighted by 1,023 Kindle readers
It is a written text based on an oral tradition, which is not at all the same as being an actual oral composition.
Highlighted by 822 Kindle readers

From the Publisher

A Millions Most Anticipated Book of 2023


	The Odyssey	The Iliad

Customer Reviews	4,873	381
Price	$11.99	$26.99
	A lean, fleet-footed translation that recaptures Homer’s “nimble gallop” and brings an ancient epic to new life.	The greatest literary landmark of antiquity masterfully rendered by the most celebrated translator of our time.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A masterpiece of translation."
― Rowan Williams, University of Cambridge

"A revelation. Never have I been so aware at once of the beauty of the poetry, the physicality of Homer’s world, and the moral ambiguity of those who inhabit it."
― Susan Chira, New York Times Book Review

"Emily Wilson’s crisp and musical version is a cultural landmark.… This translation will change the way the poem is read in English."
― Charlotte Higgins, Guardian

"In the history of Odyssey translations, few have exerted such a cultural influence that they become ‘classics’ in their own right.… I predict that Emily Wilson will win a place in this roll-call of the most significant translations of the poem in history. She certainly deserves the honour."
― Edith Hall, Daily Telegraph

"Emily Wilson has given us a staggeringly superior translation―true, poetic, lively and readable, and always closely engaged with the original Greek―that brings to life the fascinating variety of voices in Homer’s great epic."
― Richard F. Thomas, Harvard University

"When I first read these lines…, I was floored. I’d never read an Odyssey that sounded like this. It had such directness, the lines feeling not as if they were being fed into iambic pentameter because of some strategic decision but because the meter was a natural mode for its speaker."
― Wyatt Mason, New York Times Magazine

"In her powerful new translation, Emily Wilson… has chosen immediacy and naturalism over majestic formality. She preserves the musicality of Homer’s poetry, opting for an iambic pentameter whose approachable storytelling tone invites us in, only to startle us with eruptions of beauty.… Wilson’s transformation of such a familiar and foundational work is… astonishing."
― Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, Atlantic

"Wilson’s translation is a superb achievement and a striking departure from the tradition of Homeric translation into English.… There is no elaborate or antiquated diction, just a crispness and clear-headedness that will seem quite alien to anyone familiar with earlier versions.… Wilson has produced a wonderfully distinctive―and modern―version of the poem."
― Henry Power, Evening Standard

"Irresistibly readable, Wilson’s Odyssey turns Homeric epic into a poetic feast."
― Froma Zeitlin, Princeton University

"This translation is a marvel! Bold and timely and ever so exciting.… As majestic as literature gets."
― Max Porter, author of Grief Is the Thing With Feathers

About the Author

Emily Wilson is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been named a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome in Renaissance and early modern studies, a MacArthur Fellow, and a Guggenheim Fellow. In addition to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, she has also published translations of Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca. She lives in Philadelphia.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition (November 6, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 592 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393356256
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393356250
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 830L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.8 x 1.2 x 8.2 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3 in Ancient & Classical Poetry
- #4 in Epic Poetry (Books)
- #116 in Classic Literature & Fiction

Customer Reviews:
4.7 4,873 ratings

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Homer
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Homer was probably born around 725BC on the Coast of Asia Minor, now the coast of Turkey, but then really a part of Greece. Homer was the first Greek writer whose work survives.
He was one of a long line of bards, or poets, who worked in the oral tradition. Homer and other bards of the time could recite, or chant, long epic poems. Both works attributed to Homer - The Iliad and The Odyssey - are over ten thousand lines long in the original. Homer must have had an amazing memory but was helped by the formulaic poetry style of the time.
In The Iliad Homer sang of death and glory, of a few days in the struggle between the Greeks and the Trojans. Mortal men played out their fate under the gaze of the gods. The Odyssey is the original collection of tall traveller's tales. Odysseus, on his way home from the Trojan War, encounters all kinds of marvels from one-eyed giants to witches and beautiful temptresses. His adventures are many and memorable before he gets back to Ithaca and his faithful wife Penelope.
We can never be certain that both these stories belonged to Homer. In fact 'Homer' may not be a real name but a kind of nickname meaning perhaps 'the hostage' or 'the blind one'. Whatever the truth of their origin, the two stories, developed around three thousand years ago, may well still be read in three thousand years' time.
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Emily R. Wilson
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Emily Wilson grew up in Oxford, UK, and studied Classics at Balliol College, and English Literature at Corpus Christi College. Her PhD. is from Yale in Classics and Comparative Literature. She is currently a Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She is interested in literature, story-telling and how ideas and culture play out through narrative and in words, and in the music of language. She cares about poetry, drama and philosophy of all eras, especially ancient Greek, Roman and early modern. She has written books on tragedy and "overliving", the long afterlife of the death of Socrates, and a life of Seneca. She has also done several verse translations of classical verse drama and epic, including Seneca's tragedies, four plays of Euripides, and Homer's Odyssey.
Her approach to translation is discussed here: http://poems.com/special_features/prose/essay_wilson_odyssey.php
Profiled here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/magazine/the-first-woman-to-translate-the-odyssey-into-english.html
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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

4,873 global ratings

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Adam

Thoroughly enjoyable and thoughtful

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2024

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I’m glad to enjoy such a well thought out translation from a female expert’s perspective. The introductory chapter was helpful and worth rereading. The narrator was also excellent. In many subtle ways, the story is as much about Penelope as Odysseus, and the female storytellers helped bring this out.

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Tell me about a complicated tale!

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2024

Verified Purchase

This translation is a masterpiece!
I’ve read two other versions before this,
And neither can compare on any scale.

This Wilson person really knows her stuff.
Athena must have stood right by her side
And graced her with a perfect metric stride.
No dactylic hexametric gab,
No yakity yakity yakity, blabity blabity blab!
I think I read the whole book two times through:
Once for story, once for poetry.
I pissed my wife off several times a day
By reading lines out loud for her to hear.

4 people found this helpful

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R.Bruce McColm

Magnificent Modern Translation Of A Foundational Classic.

Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2024

Verified Purchase

Superb. Emily Wilson's groundbreaking translation of the Odyssey is riveting, a real page-turner which I read until the rosey Dawn. It is surprising because it maintained a dramatic tension throughout which frankly I missed reading it in my high school years. I highly recommend the editorial beginning of the book. She recounts the history of the modes by which the text was handed down and the socio-economic background of its composition Her analysis of the characters within the Odyssey are penetrating , especially Odysseus' son Telemachus,who is wrestling with his adult responsibilities. Wilson scraped the barnacles off the antiquated translations and gives us a new, clean narrative. Absolutely Maginicent!

4 people found this helpful

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Shkumbin Neziri

Great book

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2024

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I needed it for college and it is a really interesting book

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Meg

5 stars for the translation and translator's note

Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2024

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5 stars for the translation by Emily Wilson.
3.5 stars for the actual Odyssey.
Wilson does a phenomenal job at translating the famous epic poem, and the audiobook was delightful to listen to. But oof the pacing of the epic was not what I remembered. I remembered a lot of moralizing...but this was even more moralizing than even that. Wilson's translation choices make this accessible and fresh, which I loved.

One person found this helpful

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Pete

Appearance of the book

Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2024

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Was a good edition, easy to read. Author did a good job in translation

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Jim Hearn

Great new Translation1

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2024

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The rhythm of then poem was wonderful. Ms. Wilson is a wonderful translator.

One person found this helpful

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JAK

Extraordinary Translation!

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2024

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I am familiar with the Palmer, Fagles, and Shaw translations of The Odyssey. This is something completely different: an epic poem rendered in English in iambic pentameter as intended to be heard by a rapt audience after a hard day of work. Wilson has abandoned many familiar poetic figures such as "rosy-fingered dawn" and "wily Odysseus," but this translation is amazingly readable and listen-able. Wilson's preface - which runs about 100 pages - is well worth reading as an introduction to the work.

6 people found this helpful

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Daniel

Una excelente edición

Reviewed in Mexico on June 21, 2023

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Es la mejor traducción de esta obra clásica. La edición cuida muchos detalles y, para quienes están decepcionados del corte de las páginas, les comento que es una forma en la que se presentaban los libros antes de los modos industriales que conocemos a la fecha. Excelente producto.

2 people found this helpful

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Elisabetta

A fantastic translation, gives another way of looking at this epic poem

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 21, 2024

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Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey is a remarkable achievement. Not only is it the first English version by a woman, but it also captures the beauty, complexity, and diversity of Homer's ancient poem. Wilson uses clear and elegant language, and a rhythmic iambic pentameter that echoes the original Greek meter. She also preserves the number of lines in each book, making her translation faithful to the structure and pace of the original.

Wilson's Odyssey is a creative and insightful interpretation. She brings out the nuances and ambiguities of Homer's characters, especially the "complicated" hero Odysseus, who is both a cunning trickster and a suffering wanderer. She also pays attention to the perspectives and voices of the women, slaves, and foreigners in the poem, who are often marginalized or silenced in other translations. She challenges the traditional readings of the poem that glorify violence, patriarchy, and colonialism, and instead highlights the themes of hospitality, justice, and identity.

This book will enrich the understanding and appreciation of Homer's masterpiece for modern readers. It is a work of art that deserves to be read and enjoyed by anyone who loves literature, poetry, and adventure. I highly recommend this translation to anyone who wants to experience The Odyssey in a new and refreshing way.

Dionysios Vasilopoulos

Worthy of all the praise

Reviewed in Germany on February 12, 2024

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Plenty of praise has already been given to this translation.
I can only add one sentence.
It deserves all of it.

Tyakal N. Venkataramana

liked it

Reviewed in India on August 24, 2021

Verified Purchase

used it for reading

One person found this helpful

LG

Really bad cutting

Reviewed in France on August 13, 2021

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Since I’m not a native English speaker, I cannot comment on the quality of the translation and of the writing, but the cutting of the pages is very bad. There isn’t a single page with the same width as another

One person found this helpful

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