Homer: The Essential Homer [Abridged, Audiobook, CD] [Audio CD]

Homer (Author), Stanley Lombardo (Narrator, Translator), Susan Sarandon (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2006

 

The classics are rapidly receding from public consciousness, and modern revisions of them, such as the film O Brother, Where Art Thou, are in genuine danger of never being linked to their original inspiration. Noted classicist Stanley Lombardo breathes new life into some of the most famous and beloved ancient works with this engaging and vibrant audio performance of carefully selected excerpts of Homer's Iliad andOdyssey. This state-of-the-art compact disc recording provides high-quality access to some of the greatest works in world literature.

"The definitive English version of Homer for our time."—The Common Review

"Not only does one get an excellent translation of both Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey . . . but the selections included are infinitely better and longer than what one normally gets in anthologies of Greek literature."—Kostas Myrsiades, Westchester University

 

More than 3,000 years after the fall of Troy, here at last is a rendition of the Homeric epic that everybody can understand and appreciate. The world can't hear Homer speak his own words, but Stanley Lombardo is the next best thing. Reading his own acclaimed (abridged) translations, Lombardo's insightful rendition takes advantage of the rhythms and other poetic resources of everyday American speech. The result provides cinematic and performance qualities to the time-honored poetry -- sharp scene cuts, dynamic language, urgency of the characters (human and divine). His virtuoso performance in these audiobooks reflects years of experience before a wide variety of audiences -- beautifully paced, shaped, intoned, and acted throughout.

"The definitive English version of Homer for our time." -- Common Review

"The excellence of Lombardo's performance can't be lauded too much. There's no other translator of the world's greatest poetry that is also a world-class reader." -- Douglass Parker, University of Texas at Austin

"Just the right degree of involvement or detachment as each circumstance in the reading calls for." -- William Levitan, Grand Valley State University

"Remarkably true to the centrality of performance in Homer, the varied pacing and tone, the clarity, speed, narrative drive, and moments of breathtaking beauty." -- Rachel Hadas, Rutgers University

"The quality of Stan's voice, which has an honest, unshowy American core, makes these performances sound fresh, intimate, and believable --very different from those theatricized oral interpretations that overplay the 'epic' note. Altogether this is as good as Homer gets in English." -- Richard P. Martin, Stanford University

STANLEY LOMBARDO is Professor of Classics at Kansas University.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The definitive English version of Homer for our time." -- The Common Review

From the Publisher

"The quality of Lombardo's voice, which has an honest, unshowy American core, makes these performances sound fresh, intimate, and believable--very different from those theatricized oral interpretations that overplay the "epic" note." -- Richard P. Martin, Stanford University

"The excellence of Lombardo's performance can't be lauded too much. There's no other translator of the world's greatest poetry that is also a world-class reader." -- Douglass Parker, UT at Austin

"A good idea--its utility far outweighs qualms purists have about students not reading every last item in the catalogue of ships. The translation is vigorous and readable." --Andrew Ford, Princeton University

"A fine poetic translation that today's students can understand. The selections are very well chosen for a course in which time limitations prevent reading the whole of either epic." --Lillian Doherty, University of Maryland

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Parmenides Publishing; Abridged edition (October 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930972121
• ISBN-13: 978-1930972124
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.7 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,469,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This Ain't Grandma's Classics Primer, August 6, 2009

By 

Crystal West (Tempe, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Homer: The Essential Homer (Audio CD)

Dr. Lombardo truly translates this and his work transports the epic poem into the modern era, complete with colloquial outbursts and vulgar insults shouted amongst the gods. These works are exciting! I can imagine the impact they once had is in many ways re-awakened by Lombardo's update to the otherwise antiquated language found in more classical translations such as Lattimore's. Clearly, the classical translations and even those of the 19th C are playing a somewhat different game and each have their respective merits, but I feel Lombardo's packs a punch and delivers the message to today's audience. Lombardo acts as a contemporary device to the original work making the piece current and attainable. Read the others when you want to study etymological roots, metaphor, iambic pentameter, etc.

I was fortunate enough, a few years ago, to see a live performance when Lombardo paid a visit to the classics department at Arizona State. He held a question and answer session that followed his presentation. Somehow, and I don't remember the question, he got to explaining that some transients had stumbled into an auditorium during one of his previous performances not knowing anything about the topic. They sat down on the floor in the front near the stage. When he asked the audience what their thoughts were one of the transients stood up to say, "Well, I don't know about anybody else, but I think this Agamemnon guy is a real A-hole. What happens next?"

And indeed, what happens next? You should stop watching reality TV right now. Jason Meznick and Molly What's-Her-Buckets got nothing on the scandalous womanizing moves of Zeus who rapes and then marries his sister, and then cheats on her mercilessly. Turn off the Bachelorette (also because it's really awful this season). Homer is far better. Here we have rage, jealousy, murder, lust, incest, seduction, lies, manipulation, narcissism, war, epic travels, pride unto death, and it's soon apparent that as much as things change it's all the same story in a different year.

Additionally a note on format, Susan Sarandon is great here as she does the book summaries that precede each reading by Lombardo. Also, the addition of the drums and music are fantastic as they break up the different books and add to the overall dramatic nature of this work. Better in the Iliad, however, than the Odyssey. The Odyssey music was video-gamish, or maybe that was just me. My only complaint is personal - I should have gotten the two unabridged versions of these. I wanted ALL the lines.

This audio is great company, and better than much of what is being passed off as literature these days. It's also a nice listen while stuck in rush hour traffic. The drums and the battles and the angry outbursts amongst the gods made me a more aggressive driver.