Customer Reviews

The Odyssey

5 star:		(94)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Most reviewers love this translation, but after reading it, and comparing it to others (and to the Greek), I don't see why. It claims to be modern and energetic, but in fact its language is quite odd and hard to read -- excessively jaunty, with word order distortions entirely uncharacteristic of Homer. One wonderful thing about Homer is the smoothness and straightforwardness of his sentences. That's completely gone in this translation.

In addition, Fagles radically distorts one of the distinctive features of Homer's verse -- the repetitive and famous epithets: "wily Odysseus", "much-suffering godlike Odysseus" etc. Many of them are just gone, but others are transformed beyond all recognition. The repeated formula "polumetis Odysseus" ('resourceful Odysseus'), for example, which ends 68 different lines in the Odyssey, turns out (by my count) to receive 48 different translations, only 12 of which have the form Adjective+Odysseus! Fagles did this on purpose: he wanted a modern-sounding text. If you like it, fine. But don't think this is a translation of the Odyssey! It's something between a translation and a retelling, and (in my view) a clumsy one at that.

Since you ask me, you word-hungry Amazonians,
How I came solate in life to the end of a tale
That schoolchildren read in comicbooks,
A tale that is one of the sturdy legs
Of the table on which our culture rests
Since you ask, I will tell you, and gladly, too.

My journey started, though you grin in disbelief,
In ninth-grade Latin class, where "Ulysses"
Duped the cyclops by calling himself "Nemo."
Then a deep sleep fell over me,
And I knew no more Homer, not in Greek or Latin
Or English or even the strange tongue
Of the network miniseries, while Sun
Drove his blazing chariot round Earth
One hundred hundred times.

In this sleep I wandered the world of letters,
Homerless but unable to avoid the homeric:
Achilles' heel, the Sirens' song,
Calypso, the Trojan Horse, and swinemaking Circe--
Crouched like Scylla, aswirl like Charybdis,
Threatening cultural death to epic ignorance.

At last I found my literary Tiresias,
The New York Times Book Review.
I shook from this seer the name Fagles,
And so guided, I made my way home at last,
Through a translation that rings of a heroic time,
A time when men were stronger and grander than we,
When women were more beautiful,
And when, granted, sexual equality wanted
A few millennia's labor;
But even so, a rendering as modern
As anything DeLillo, new god of the underworld,
Or the infinitely jesting Wallace
Can lay before us.

The best, in fine, of both worlds, an epic worthy
Of the blind bard and of his heroes, his heroines,
And the deathless denizens of Olympus.

As noted on earlier reviews these two, the first "The Iliad", and now "The Odyssey" have become the translations read for pure enjoyment. No longer does one `know' of the classics but never read them, now we read them too. Thankfully, Robert Fagles has produced a translation worthy of the original sense of Homer's great poem. It captures well the suffering and tragedy Odysseus went through in his journey full of trials and tribulations from the great ogre, the Cyclops, to the beautiful Calypso and finally one of his greatest tests, the suitors seeking his wife's approval after 20 years absence from his homeland.

As usual the introduction by Bernard Knox (NB my earlier mistake in the review on The Iliad) is highly informative and shows real depth of understanding of Homeric poetry, an invaluable aid in the full comprehension of the poem. In addition the extra maps of the Homeric word as well as a glossary of terms and a section detailing some of the characters in more depth provide an excellent background which may be missing in a non-classical education. Certainly this is the transaltion to use when teaching of classic poetry in schools since the child is captivated by the flow of the story and the fast pace which keeps one glued to the book, although not as pacy as The Iliad it is a different sort of story. Unlike the Iliad which is replete with battles and war, The Odyssey is the story of a journey and is of a different tune. I once tried to read an earlier translation of The Odyssey a few years ago and found it stuffy and staid, this is no longer true of Fagles work, were it only the case of other great classics. I felt throughout that Fagles kept to the aura of the original even when substituting more modern expressions for the older ones eg "holding nothing back" is obviously a modern phrase but it captures what the poem is saying and that is what is important ie capturing the poem as a whole. This has been ably achieved. An excellent book.

Fagles' Odyssey is what Homer (the man, the organization, the woman -- whatever you believe Homer WAS) certainly intended the Odyssey to be. It is translated as poetry, and Fagles' experience in writing his own work and translating others' comes through here. Dactylic lines ('fast') pull you through the text at surprising speed, and spondaic lines ('slow') force you to slow down. The Greek comes shining through as never before, with more of its intricacies intact. For example, when a young Odysseus is described in the beginning of book 19, the phrase "a young boy on a mission" is given its own line. It DOES NOT have its own line in Greek, but it is, however, an enjambment (in which a word or short phrase "hangs over" in the following line for effect). This device might not have as much power in English, and might not strike the reader so heavily -- but it is meant to. We are meant to see a vignette of a young man, all alone and braving the world. Instead of mushing it in with another line, Fagles uses his poetic sense to make a whole line for the little "picture" of Odysseus. The liberties that Fagles DOES take with the text have a purpose, and a purpose that is achieved fully. Imagine this much attention being given to each line, and you might have an idea of why this is such a good translation. The second aspect of Fagles' translation that is truly excellent is his "ear" for Homer. the Odyssey was made to be PERFORMED, and not READ. Read aloud any other translation and you will find it does not have the same clarity or energy. I sincerely hope that this translation will live on. Fagles captures the genius and richness of Homer better than any other translator I have read in English. A huge majority of people who dislike Homer say they do because he is "so boring." I can't believe how someone who picks this up and reads it seriously might be unable to appreciate the intricacy and beauty, the care and precision with which every line is translated, and with which it was originally written.

I've read a few translations of The Odyssey and this is the ONLY one that truly reflects the poetry of the work.

I don't think Homer's epic tale of Odysseus and his trials would have lasted through the centuries if it was meant to be read like a dry textbook and Fagles sets out to create a counterpoint for those translations.

Although I was required to read this book for a class, it never felt like work. The beauty of the language stands out in such perfection that it gaves me chills on more than one occassion.

I like that Fagles didn't attempt to "dumb down" the language of the work, but kept the poetry vivid and fluid--yes, it'll take a few pages to get used to the structure, but once you do, the motion and rhythm of the words themselves with carry you along with them.

I remember groaning when I found out that I had to read all 560 pages, but it really didn't seem like it took any effort at all.

I give very high praise to Fagles for bringing back to life such a valuable piece of literary art in a way that even Homer would have approved.

Firstly, some of the reviews have given poor ratings to this epic poem because they did not like the story of the Odyssey and not because it was a bad translation. In fact it is the best I've ever read. Pope's translation of course is more poetic but it is not at all accessible. Fagles does a wonderful job in updating the language to modern English so that we can understand the story. Also at the back of the book are notes and a short glossary so that if you are not familiar with any of the references to Gods for example you can look it up and learn more about Greek mythology. Finally Fagles has a great introduction (with maps) that gives you background into the world of Homer.

Ever since I started learning Koine Greek I keep having the thought that I must at some point pick up Classical Greek in order to read Homer in the original. Thoreau said that all men must read Homer in the original. Maybe he is right. I don't know.

If Homer is half the poet that Robert Fagles's translation makes him out to be--it will be well worth the effort. In his book "How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry," Edward Hirsch says that poems are like messages in bottles that make their way unseen across oceans of time and culture to unforeseen readers. When I uncorked this bottle I was blown away by the song it sang.

Fagles has impeccable descriptive power, which he blends with stunning imagery and timing. I recommend this book highly...come, be swept along on the heroic tides of this wine-dark sea. Experience the Odyssey the way it was meant to be.

This is an attractive book with a lot to like inside. It has a knowing and substantial introduction by Bernard Knox that talks of the Odyssey in some detail, and of the world the Iliad and Odyssey depict. (Incidentally, his introduction to Fagles's Iliad is identical in its more general parts, but unique where it discusses the particular poem at issue.) Robert Fagles supplies an afterword in which he discusses the reasons for his approach, and some of his strategies. There are maps, a few family genealogies and a list for further reading. Bernard Knox also supplies the notes to the poem. Finally, the poem's own line numbers are tracked, as well as those of the (Oxford) Greek edition which was its source (deviations from that source are noted).

This book also includes a valuable pronouncing glossary covering virtually every place-name and person-name used in the story. The translator made a fine decision to render the names in their Latin, instead of Greek, forms. In their Latin forms they can be said using ordinary English sounds for the most part, and these pronunciations are sanctioned by long usage in English literature. Thus, you do not have to stop and explain to someone that by "Kir-kay" you really mean whom they know as Circe ("sir-see").

The primary decision for a translator of Homer is whether to use verse or prose. Fagles wishes to bring across the Odyssey as a song or chant, as in the original, so quite properly uses verse. Homer's line was strict: its syllable count was always twelve, and while variation was permitted within the line, the last few syllables always had a narrowly-prescribed form. In addition, each line was typically a syntactic unit. These two facts control the feel of an Homeric recitation, which must have been quite rhythmic, especially with a strummed accompaniment.

This Homeric line is not consonant with the genius of English metrics, but Fagles constructs his lines with Homeric song in mind. They tend to be six beats and loosely iambic, but he does not hesitate to go longer or shorter at need. He also tries to keep the lines syntactic wholes - phrases or clauses - but if not the slopover is usually graceful (in that one can pause slightly at line-end without doing violence to some partially-completed phrase). His language, too, is interesting, a non-literary, plain-spoken diction larded with quaint colloquialisms (e.g. "heart to heart", "my hopes ride high") cheek by jowl with exotic allusions to the gods that I think has the intent (it certainly has the effect) of depicting the narrator as a bit old-fashioned but honest, and his story true.

I have also read Robert Fitzgerald's translation of The Odyssey a couple times and enjoyed it, and have partially read the verse versions of Mandelbaum and of Lattimore. I like Fagles better than these. Fitzgerald and Mandelbaum use five-beat lines; Fitzgerald's is loose, but Mandelbaum's a strict pentameter. Both of these versions read very well, but for Homer I prefer the six-beat line. Lattimore does use a consistently six-beat line, but his verse is inferior - it seems more like evenly-sliced prose. And none of these editions has the support sections the Fagles edition has (particularly that lovely pronouncing glossary).

As to how well the Fagles Odyssey plays, I have listened to Ian McKellan's recording of it: he does a great job - it is clearly the marriage of a fine actor and a superior text. The only thing I could wish for is someone strumming a lyre in the background.

In his book "The Joy of Reading", Charles Van Doren had this to say of Fagles's translation:

"Translations of both epics by Richard Lattimore are said to be closer to the Greek than most others but perhaps as a result they are not easy to read. A more passionate version of The Iliad by Robert Fitzgerald seemed preferable when it appeared thirty years ago. But none of those, in my opinion, can be compared with the translations of both poems by Robert Fagles that were published at the end of the last century. His Iliad is powerful, almost overwhelming, his Odyssey utterly charming, and I recommend them to anyone who wishes to read--or reread--Homer's two great epics. I can't imagine any reader not being transported by Fagles into Homer's magical world."

Although I respect Fagles as a modern translator, I cannot recommend his translations of Homer...I would probably only recommend his translations of Sophocles's 3 Theban Plays.

Homer's Iliad and Odyssey don't sound like Epics anymore under Fagles...they are turned into mild nice sounding children stories! He tones down Homer to the point that I feel that Fagels wants his personality to shine NOT Homer's! I am gravely disappointed by this.

I also find that he not only forces beauty into the text but adds too much of his personal warmth that gets in the way of the texts and creates a vision of Homer's epics that is truly unsound to the original.

Not only that but the font and design of the print is an eye sore, I don't like the choice the publishers and Fagles gave to the works. It doesn't make for easy reading...

Stanley Lombardo's translations are unparalleled in their print layout, design and font...not to say vivid and powerful evocative translation.

I continue to find Richmond Lattimore's facinating translations the most accurate to how the Ancient Greek language sounds to English ears. I would buy Lattimore over Fagles (and Fitzgerald).

And I still think Rieu's famous Prose version from 1946 is hard to beat for it's modernity and readibility.

...Find out for yourself by comparing a few versions but don't be duped into this mysterious "Fagles hype"!