Homer

'You must be Odysseus, man of twists and turns...'The tales of Odysseus's struggle with a man-eating Cyclops and Circe, the beautiful enchantress who turns men into swine. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Next to nothing is known about Homer's life. His works available in Penguin Classics are The Homeric Hymns, The Iliad and The Odyssey.

"Joe Sachs's translation brings the reader quickly and deeply into the Odyssey."--Nickolas PappasThis new translation powerfully presents "The Odyssey" with a modern clarity that suits the vigorous narrative of Odysseus's perilous ten-year voyage home to Ithaca. Joe Sachs, whose translations are known for being faithful to the original Greek, brings new layers of depth, understanding, and interest to the epic." I have never met a translation of the Odyssey I didn't like." Thus Joe Sachs invites us to partake in his new rendering of Homer's epic." The poem appears in as many guises as Odysseus himself... There is so much power and grace in Homer's poetry that a reader responsive to a few partial strands of it can find in them a wholly satisfying experience and every translator whose work I have read has detected and magnified something in the original that I had not found by other means... Any newly encountered translation of a poem is an opportunity to participate in a fresh reading through a new pair of eyes, and while those readings cannot all be taken in at one view, each one adds something to the sight that occupies the foreground at any moment. It is not because a new translation is needed that I now offer this one, but because every new translation is a contribution that enhances the self-revelation of a poem of boundless variety... The friction of one translation against another can be the quickest way for a path to light up for a reader's own entry into the work. And this invitation to use the available translations not as rivals but in partnership gives license to any single translator to sacrifice part of the meaning and weight of any word or phrase to capture more effectively whatever seems to matter most in it... There comes a point when your best recourse is to rely on no one's judgment but your own, to confront the intelligence, imagination, and heart we know as Homer on your own, and to join the fun."--from the Introduction by Joe Sachs"The transparent, natural language of Joe Sachs's translation brings the reader quickly and deeply into the Odyssey. Behind that language, both intimate and clear, we sense his sure feel for the Odyssey's people and places. And as much as the scenes of the poem vary, and the language with them, we detect the idea of the Odyssey that Sachs articulates in his valuable afterword: that Homer can begin his story in the middle of things because we are always in the midst of the Odyssey's action no matter where we start reading--because the poem's sub-ject is the discovery of what is essentially human, a discovery that humans are always, wonderingly, in the middle of."--Nickolas Pappas, Professor of Philosophy at City College and the Graduate Center, CUNY"Joe Sachs's translation of Aristotle's Poetics is to me the most vibrant version of a well-thumbed text that is still the screenwriter's bible. So I am not surprised that he brings the same freshness to the world's greatest long-voyage-home-to-a-lost-love story. This Odyssey is exciting reading for the general reader and essential reading for teachers and students who can now 'hear' how Homer's epic might have been heard by listeners in times past. Let's hope Joe Sachs is now working on the Iliad."--Eoghan Harris, Irish National Film School (Dun Laoghaire Institute)Joe Sachs taught for thirty years in the Great Books program at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. He has translated numerous works by Aristotle and Plato.

The classic tale of Odysseus's return home in a stunning new translation.

A stunning Penguin clothbound edition of Homer's great epic, in E. V. Rieu's classic translation. The Iliad is the first and the greatest literary achievement of Greek civilization - an epic poem without rival in the literature of the world, and the cornerstone of Western culture. The story centres on the critical events in the last year of the Trojan War, which lead to Achilleus' killing of Hektor and determine the fate of Troy. But Homer's theme is not simply war or heroism. With compassion and humanity, he presents a universal and tragic view of the world, of human life lived under the shadow of suffering and death, set against a vast and largely unpitying divine background.. Seven Greek cities claim the honour of being the birthplace of Homer (c. 8th-7th century BC), the poet to whom the composition of the Iliadand Odyssey are attributed. The Iliad is the oldest surviving work of Western literature, but the identity - or even the existence - of Homer himself is a complete mystery, with no reliable biographical information having survived. E. V. Rieu initiated Penguin Classics with Allen Lane and his famous translation of the Odyssey was the first book published in the series in 1947. The Iliad followed in 1950.

From Stephen Mitchell, the renowned translator whose Iliad was named one of The New Yorker's Favorite Books of 2011, comes a vivid new translation of the Odyssey, complete with textual notes and an illuminating introductory essay. The hardcover publication of the Odyssey received glowing reviews: The New York Times praised "Mitchell's fresh, elegant diction and the care he lavishes on meter, which] brought me closer to the transfigurative experience Keats describes on reading Chapman's Homer"; Booklist, in a starred review, said that "Mitchell retells the first, still greatest adventure story in Western literature with clarity, sweep, and force"; and John Banville, author of The Sea, called this translation "a masterpiece." The Odyssey is the original hero's journey, an epic voyage into the unknown, and has inspired other creative work for millennia. With its consummately modern hero, full of guile and wit, always prepared to reinvent himself in order to realize his heart's desire--to return to his home and family after ten years of war--the Odyssey now speaks to us again across 2,600 years. In words of great poetic power, this translation brings Odysseus and his adventures to life as never before. Stephen Mitchell's language keeps the diction close to spoken English, yet its rhythms recreate the oceanic surge of the ancient Greek. Full of imagination and light, beauty and humor, this Odyssey carries you along in a fast stream of action and imagery. Just as Mitchell "re-energised the Iliad for a new generation" (The Sunday Telegraph), his Odyssey is the noblest, clearest, and most captivating rendition of one of the defining masterpieces of Western literature.

Since it was first published more than forty years ago, Robert Fitzgerald's prizewinning translation of Homer's battle epic has become a classic in its own right: a standard against which all other versions of The Iliad are compared. This definitive translation of Homer's epic is timeless in its authority and always fresh in its vivid rendering of the preeminent war story of the Western world. In keeping with the oral tradition of the time, Dan Stevens's extraordinary narration makes this epic tale come alive. The listener becomes totally immersed in the adventure and drama of the story - this is the way The Iliad was meant to be experienced. Also included on the program is a portion of the poem read in ancient Greek so that listeners may experience the lyricism and music of the original language.

'Muse, tell me of a man: a man of much resource, who was made to wander far and long, after he had sacked the sacred city of Troy. Many were the men whose lands he saw and came to know their thinking: many too the miseries at sea which he suffered in his heart, as he sought to win his own life and the safe return of his companions.' Recounting the epic journey home of Odysseus from the Trojan War, The Odyssey - alongside its sister poem The Iliad - stands as the well-spring of Western Civilisation and culture, an inspiration to poets, writers and thinkers for thousands of years since. This authoritative prose translation by Martin Hammond brings Homer's great poem of homecoming to life as Odysseus battles through such familiar dangers as the cave of the Cyclops, the call of the Sirens and his hostile reception back in his native land of Ithaca.

Contains two of the greatest adventure stories of all time. In this book, the first adventure recounts the war between the Trojans and Achaeans and the personal and tragic struggle of the fiery-tempered Achilles. It also includes a story which chronicles Odysseus' return from the Trojan War and the trials he endures on his journey home.