The Iliad / The Odyssey [Box set] [Paperback]

Homer (Author), Bernard Knox (Editor, Introduction), Robert Fagles (Translator)

Book Description

Release date: November 1, 1999

Gripping listeners and readers for more than 2,700 years, The Iliad is the story of the Trojan War and the rage of Achilles. Combining the skills of a poet and scholar, Robert Fagles brings the energy of contemporary language to this enduring heroic epic. If The Iliad is the world's greatest war story, then The Odyssey is literature's greatest evocation of every man's journey through life. Here again, Fagles has performed the translator's task magnificently, giving us an Odyssey to read aloud, to savor, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery. Each volume contains a superb introduction with textual and critical commentary by renowned classicist Bernard Knox.

@RageAgainstTheAchaean Pissed. I am so, so very pissed.

First I have to go to this beach. Then I have to kill all these dudes. And NOW – now! This prick stole my biscuit. Who does that? Am I right?

Can’t resolve this problem on my own – calling Mom!

From Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less about The Iliad

@IthacaStateOfMind Uh oh. This cave is a giant’s lair. He has a taste for cheese, and my companions. He also has only one eye. Trying to keep from laughing.

Got him drunk. Put a hot poker in his ONE EYE when he blacked out. That will show him – if he could see. LOL. Time to leave.

Damn. Poseidon pissed. How was I supposed to know One-Eye was his son? What Olympian whore did he sleep with to get an issue like that?

From Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less about The Odyssey

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Fagles is Arthur W. Marks '19 Professor of Comparative Literature at Princeton University and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Bernard Knox is Director Emeritus of Harvard's Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D. C.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0147712556
• ISBN-13: 978-0147712554
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 3.5 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Ancient & Classical Literature > Greek
  • #11 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Movements & Periods > Medieval
  • #55 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Ancient, Classical & Medieval

More About the Author

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.

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#33 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics

#33 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

142 of 148 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent December 29, 1999

By Guy J. Kelley

Format:Paperback

I don't know whether it is the font size, the appropriate spacing, or the translation, or even, the combination of all three. This was the most accessible, approachable, and engaging version I have ever read. I am no scholar of these works so I cannout vouch for the literary accuracy, but I suspect the main literary themes are left unadulterated: War is hell and gruesome; both sides suffer; stife breeds conflict even among allies; life is an odyssey with free will being buffetted by many uncontrollable forces (gods?); graciousness, courtesy, wit, wisdom, and personal responsibility are attributes that will help us through this journey. I highly recommend this version as well as this 2700 year old work of art. Literature doesn't get any better than this.

82 of 84 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Translation of these Classic Epics Tales! June 20, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I highly recommend this boxed hardcover set, because after reading Robert Fagles translation, you'll want to keep it as a part of your personal book collection..to re-read again and again. I have read many fine and not-so-fine translations of these works (including the admirable Robert Fitzgerald and the classic Richard Lattimore translations), but Robert Fagles' translations are by far the best I've seen. Fagles manages to bring the stories to life while still maintaining a sense of the poetic beauty of the original. I especially liked the Illiad. These translations are far from being dusty and archaic, but instead are very much "alive", capturing the excitement and beauty of these classic tales. If your first exposure to these classics was a very negative one, try again with Fagles (you'll be very glad you did!)... and if you're a great fan of Homer, you'll definitely want to read these wonderful new translations by Robert Fagles.

Also, the "introductions" by the well-respected classicist, Bernard Knox, are a great source of additional,up-to-date information about these works and the Homeric period of Ancient Greece.

77 of 80 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply wonderful May 19, 2000

By John McCormack

Format:Paperback

Simply wonderful

Robert Fagles is the finest translator of Homer I have ever read. I have loved classical history and classical myths since I was seven; Robert Fagles' translation makes me feel as if I am reading these stories for the very first time.

His poetical vision reawakens Homer; he makes the agony and glory of the Iliad and Odyssey a living, vibrant and above all human force. This is literature like a trumpet blast; these are words to wake the imagination and emotions.

Few moments are more moving in any literature, than when Hector speaks to his beloved wife Andromache for what will be the last time. As he turns to his baby son Astynax, the child cries in terror at the crested helmet masking his father's face. Hector pulls the helmet away and laughs, and hugs his son.

Hector will die that day. Andromache will end her days as a slave in a far country. Their son will be thrown to his death from the walls of burning Troy. All this the Greeks knew.

Achilles is the great Greek hero. He needs a worthy enemy to kill, a warrior of skill and courage and resolve. Homer carefully depicts the doomed Hector as the greatest Trojan solider, a man with deep regard for his peoples' welfare, who inspires fear from his enemies, a leader of renown and a man for all men to honour.

Yet Homer does more than this - he deliberately makes Hector human and every Greek who knew and loved the Iliad knew Hector to be human, to be a man like himself.

Enemies in our century are demonised. They are communists, they are capitalists, they are Arabs or Moslems or the great Satan America. They are very carefully portrayed as inhuman (and undeserving of any humanity?)

There is no sentimentality in the Iliad. It is brutal. Death upon death, the warriors fight for their honours and die alone and in pain. There is no afterlife here. A man lives on through his name only, and he buys his name with blood and fear. This is grim, not gratuitous - heroism is applauded but the sheer waste of war is laid bare.

Yet - the enemy are never less than human, they are not despised for being "different". Individuals are honoured or loathed, but emotions rest with individuals not races or nations.

I cannot convey in either spoken or written words just how much I recommend these translations to anyone, whether they are already familiar with the Iliad and Odyssey or are coming to Homer for the first time..............