Customer Reviews

Homer / The Odyssey

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Homer's Odyssey was not written to be read on a page. In fact, it was not written on a page at all over much of its career. The Odyssey was designed for telling aloud. It sings. It rolls and rollicks along, or it burbles quietly, perhaps even seductively. Reader Ian McKellen and translator Robert Fagles understand all this very well, so well that you almost think the story is telling itself.

I've listened to this unabridged reading of Fagles' translation at least a dozen times, and I hope to hear it a hundred more. Though the reading takes many cassetes, there are stories and stories here, and though they flow from one to another, the tales are self-contained enough to listen to one by one. There is a chord or two of music between major sections, a stringed instrument fanfare to convince you that you've slipped back into the Bronze Age.

The accompanying booklet is useful and interesting, and I found the fold-up packaging to be secure and convenient.

I also own the Fagles Iliad, read by Derek Jacobi, and think it a wonderful example of Derek Jacobi reading Derek Jacobi --I could never get beyond half a tape. This version is also abridged (according to reviews, the audio publishers judged the world's best-known war story, or perhaps anti-war story, too violent for modern tastes and cut the worst, or best, of the gore.)

Jacobi also reads an abridged Odyssey and if you are debating which to buy, do try to listen to both the McKellen and the abridged version.

A copy of the Fagles translation might be a useful accompaniment, though it's hard to imagine that a buyer of the audio version wouldn't already have it.

Many of us (perhaps TOO many of us) were required to read at least ONE of the Great Works of Ancient Western Literature, like the Odyssey, the Iliad or (if we were lucky, the shortest one of the lot) Beowulf. Most of us hated the work because it was really, REALLY long and really, REALLY complicated. I mean, how many people still read and write in hectambic octameter, or whatever the heck it is...?? Most of us have enough difficulty sloughing through the works of Shakespeare and his sonnets. So, I think it's fair to say that most of us have been at least EXPOSED to Homer, though we've likely not gotten much out of it.

It took a few centuries, but there is finally a translation that brings the story more up-to-date for modern audiences. The translator, Mr. Fagles, has done away with the rhyming scheme of the original and instead put the text into a more readable format of sentences and paragraphs. This move alone has made the story more readable than any other translation I've attempted (and it should be noted, even at 13 hours on audio, this is the first translation of Homer I've been able to understand and, more importantly, *finish*). Expressions of gratitude also go out to him for reducing the amount of "thus"es and "heretofore"s and other elements of ancient speech that are commonly found in Greek translations. While I did notice that he sometimes used very modern words like "potluck", it is this very modernization that allowed me to more fully get into the text and comprehend it.

I therefore disagree with a friend of mine, a Classics professor, who says that Fagles is "dumbing down" Homer's work by making it more readable ("Homer is NOT Stephen King! It's a story that's over 2,800 years old!! Of COURSE it's going to be difficult to read!", he grumped). As a writer, storyteller and teacher of English writing and reading, my feelings are that if you have lost your audience, then you might as well be writing to the rocks and trees-the purpose of a story is to be told and UNDERSTOOD; if the audience doesn't understand you, then what have you got? Nothing! So, while I concede that Mr. Fagles might have taken some liberties with the translation and style by making it narrative text vs. poetic -meter, I believe it has only served to enhance the story so much more.

Much of the Odyssey, of course, are stories and retellings of the great deeds of the hero, Odysseus, who set forth from his native land of Ithaca to do the sorts of things that heroes do, mostly conquer armies. Odysseus of course becomes shipwrecked and endures a number of different adventures, including the Island of the Lotus-Eaters, Polyphemus the one-eyed Cyclops, and the destructive singing of the Sirens. Meanwhile, at home his wife, Penelope, awaits his return while suitors take over the kingdom and try to win her affections, devouring the goods of the realm in the process.

For a modern audience with all the convenient of CD-ROM's, the Internet, cable TV and whatnot, the repetitive nature of The Odyssey might grow a bit dull and tiresome if one were to read the whole thing in print, but thanks to the stellar voice talents of Ian McKellen, I breezed through the 12 cassettes in an astoundingly short time, so drawn in was I by his voice. His soothing tones, rising and falling with the action, pausing here, growing louder there as some battle is raged, is so perfectly matched to the text that you can easily picture him sitting there in some ancient stone hall telling the story as if it were his own and Odysseus his best friend. I was not bored for an instant with him as my narrator and guide through this ancient story, and I can't recommend this audio version highly enough.

In closing, the tapes are packaged with a short but informative and densely written book by Mr. Bernard Knox. Admittedly, I didn't use or refer to this book often, being more interested in just the story itself than all of the infinite details.

An astounding feat of translation, performance and research!! Highly, HIGHLY recommended!!

You know the story, but you have NEVER heard it like this before! Ian McKellen brings The Odyssey to life with his extraordinary gift. Fagles' translation is superior to any other I've found. Together they have breathed so much life and beauty into this ancient story that there were some passages I listened to again and again. What a lovely, lovely experience.

Having read other great translations in the past, in college and later, I was interested in this new translation and intrigued by the opportunity to hear the work read by a talented actor. The story was meant to be listened to, not read, as it comes from an oral tradition of poetry passed down over hundreds of years before Homer perfected it and wrote it down for posterity. Listening to the tapes literally envelopes one in the imagery of the heroic age. Never before have I enjoyed my ride to work so much. Also, my 5 and 9 year old daughters began requesting it when I drove them to school! You will love these tapes! Also, the related recording of the Iliad with Derek Jacobi was equally amazing. ENJOY!

I write this on the heels of a review of the cassette version of Dante's Inferno in Pinksy's fine translation which was weakened by some so-so reading and disfigured by horrible between-canto sound effects. This is almost as annoying -- and it turns out to be from the same company, so no more Penguin audiobooks for me until I'm sure that they've cleaned up their act.
Fagles's translation is justly praised and needs no more encomiums from me. McKellen is a good, solid reader. His slightly growly voice as recorded here is no liability and he paces and expresses the reading well.
The production team, though, has once again rouged the Mona Lisa. Here, between books, there is some sort of awful discordant sound supposed to represent...what? Homer twisting his lyre into pieces and tuning a new one?
Also, there are some odd lapses. A few sound dropouts on the cassettes, a spot where it sounded as if an out-take (a mistaken repeat or a line with a dropped word) instead of the final take wound up in the issued copy.
The Oddysey is a long work and a lapse here and there is no big thing, but those awful noodlings coming back over and over again are hard to take. I would not recommend this set and regret that I bought it.

This recording of the Robert Fagles translation of the Odyssey, while enjoyable in itself, provides a wonderful partner for the text. Sir Ian McKellan's performance is clear, offering a stimulating interpretation without "doing the police in voices." While McKellan is not slavishly faithful to Fagles' prosody, he captures Homer's energetic movement and clarity of depiction.

It reads fine, but...

It sounds fabulous. Fagles clearly translated with storytelling in mind. Not some olden-times, prissy, otherworldly telling, but a good, solid, sit around a fire and share stories telling. A delight to the ear in rhythm and clarity.

I listened to this with my husband and 7 year old daughter while driving to and from the cottage this summer. We enjoyed the shared experience. The 7 year old understood what was going on and looked forward to the next installment each week!
A translation that makes the story approachable...and Ian does a superb job of reading, making slight changes in intonation and tone to help the listener understand when different characters speak.

It was with great dread that I purchased the audio tapes of the Odyssey. It is with great pleasure that I write this review. Audio turned a dreaded assignment into a wonderful experience.The odyssey is a story to be listened to and not read. Ian McKellen's voice transends the here and now, transporting you back in time. It's as if you are seated around a fire listening to the tale for the first time.

Fagles has done a superb job of modernifying Homer. Homer cries out to be recited and McKellan does a superb job with it. Just as in the original written text the only part that really dragged for me was the Underworld.