The Odyssey (Penguin Classics) [Hardcover]

Homer (Author), D. C. H. Rieu (Editor), Coralie Bickford-Smith (Illustrator), E. V. Rieu (Translator), Peter Jones (Introduction)

Book Description

Release date: March 10, 2010 | Series: Penguin Classics

'I long to reach my home and see the day of my return. It is my never-failing wish'

The epic tale of Odysseus and his ten-year journey home after the Trojan War forms one of the earliest and greatest works of Western literature. Confronted by natural and supernatural threats - shipwrecks, battles, monsters and the implacable enmity of the sea-god Poseidon - Odysseus must test his bravery and native cunning to the full if he is to reach his homeland safely and overcome the obstacles that, even there, await him.

E. V. Rieu's translation of the Odyssey was the very first Penguin Classic to be published, and has itself achieved classic status. For this edition, Rieu's text has been revised, and a new introduction by Peter Jones complements the original introduction.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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. Both works attributed to Homer – the Iliad and the Odyssey – are over ten thousand lines long in the original. Homer must have had an amazing memory but was helped by the formulaic poetry style of the time.

In the Iliad Homer sang of death and glory, of a few days in the struggle between the Greeks and the Trojans. Mortal men played out their fate under the gaze of the gods. The Odyssey is the original collection of tall traveller’s tales. Odysseus, on his way home from the Trojan War, encounters all kinds of marvels from one-eyed giants to witches and beautiful temptresses. His adventures are many and memorable before he gets back to Ithaca and his faithful wife Penelope.

We can never be certain that both these stories belonged to Homer. In fact ‘Homer’ may not be a real name but a kind of nickname meaning perhaps ‘the hostage’ or ‘the blind one’. Whatever the truth of their origin, the two stories, developed around three thousand years ago, may well still be read in three thousand years’ time.

E. V. Rieu was a celebrated translator from Latin and Greek, and editor of Penguin Classics from 1944-1964. His son, D. C. H. Rieu has revised his work.

D. C. H. Rieu is the son of E. V. Rieu, celebrated translator from Latin and Greek and Editor of Penguin Classics from 1944-1964.

Peter Jones is former lecturer in classics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics Hardcover; Reprint edition (March 10, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141192445
• ISBN-13: 978-0141192444
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #72 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Epic

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Comment on the translation September 30, 2005

By T. Bachman

Format:Paperback

I own a number of translations of Homer, and the Rieu/Jones translations of The Odyssey and The Iliad are among my favourite (the others are Albert Cook's and Mandelbaum's translation of The Odyssey). I like all these better than the Fagles since they are more faithful to the original text.

If you order this book, grab yourself a Cliff Notes just so you get the necessary background info so it all makes sense.

Good luck!

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Sticker Warning December 8, 2011

By Van

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought nearly twenty of these Penguin classics with covers designed by the exceptional Coralie Bickford-Smith from Amazon. When I got them I discovered that an adhesive price sticker, apparently applied by Penguin, was on the back cover of each volume. Despite my efforts to carefully remove the sticker, some of the heat-stamped design lifted up with it in every case, some worse than others, but in all cases ruining the design. I contacted Penguin and I hope they have since rectified this problem, but please be forewarned. I ended up returning every volume to Amazon.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Looks nice on a bookshelf, but worth taking down to read April 24, 2010

By Tess R. Stockslager

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am a big fan of this new series from Penguin Classics. The hardcover bindings (each featuring a stylized pattern that relates--sometimes subtly, sometimes obviously--with the subject of the book), the high-quality pages, and the ribbon bookmark all make these books attractive collectibles. But I also really enjoyed the content of this book. The prose translation was accurate but not slavish. I felt like I was reading a novel. The introduction was also highly readable and informative--I actually wanted to read it, which is unusual.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Down-to-Earth Translation of a Classic April 20, 2007

By mroxie VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Over the years, I've encountered several different translations of Homer's 'The Odyssey' in school textbooks. These were generally excerpts, not the work in its entirety. I had become quite familiar with it's plot, as well as its ties to Greek mythology, though I'd never read the whole work. I've made attempts at reading Robert Fitzgerald's full translation of 'The Odyssey' in the past, though I found that I couldn't get into it. A couple of months before writing this review, I came across this particular translation...After leafing through the pages, it appeared to be much more accessible than others I had seen, so I thought I'd give it a try.

One of the key differences between this translation and others is that it has been rendered in the style of a novel than like the epic poetry its been translated from. Though the literal meaning of the passages has been largely retained, I find this translation's layout to be more aesthetically appealing and, thus, easier for a casual reader to become immersed in.

'The Odyssey' is the story of the main character, Odysseus, and his return to his home in Ithaca after the Trojan War. Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, had to leave both his wife Penelope and his newly born son Telemachus behind because he has to leave for Troy. 'The Odyssey' begins, chronologically, in the 'middle' of the actual sequence of events in Odysseus' story. While Odysseus has been away from Ithaca for an unusually long length of time, his patron goddess, Athena, is discussing his fate with her father, Zeus. In the meantime, Odysseus' wife, Penelope, is constantly being harassed by a large group of men collectively referred to as the 'Suitors', who wish to marry her, since it appears that there is no chance of Odysseus returning.... Athena visits Telemachus, who is now around 20 years old, and is able to help him get news of his father's whereabouts. Odysseus has been held captive by the nymph Calypso for many years, though the messenger-god Hermes persuades her to free him. Odysseus builds himself a raft, though it ends up being wrecked by the enraged sea-god Poseidon. Odysseus swims to an island, where he is rescued by a young girl, Nausicaa. He is welcomed by her father, Alcinous, and mother, Arete. At this point, Odysseus tells of the trials he has had to endure since his participation in the Trojan War so long ago.

Many of these events will be familiar to anyone interested in Greek mythology; for instance, his crew's ships being wrecked on the island of the Lotus-Eaters, his encounter with a Cyclops (Poseidon's son, who Odysseus blinds by thrusting a stake through his eye; this is the reason why Poseidon is angry with Odysseus), and passing through the land of the singing Sirens. After he is finishing telling of his adventures, a group of skilled sea-men, the Phaecians, help him reach Ithaca. Odysseus is able to introduce himself to his son Telemachus, who he hasn't seen since he was a baby. In disguise, Odysseus is able to walk amongst the Suitors and Penelope, and tells them that Odysseus is going to be returning soon. Penelope tests all of the Suitors, saying that anyone able to string Odysseus' bow in an archery competition may have her hand in marriage. Odysseus, still disguised as a beggar, is the only one able to do so. Then, he reveals his identity to the Suitors, then kills them after turning his bow upon all of them. His wife, Penelope, tests Odysseus to see if he is really who he says he is by telling the maid Eurycleia to move their bed from the bedroom. Odysseus then tells of how he built that bed himself from an olive-tree and how it would be incredibly hard for anyone to move it. Thus, Penelope was convinced of his identity, and they talk of all of the events that have occurred in each of their lives during the long span of time that they haven't been able to communicate.

'The Odyssey' is one of the central works of Western literature, which is understandable based on the story's scope: mythology, adventure, an intelligent and cunning hero, and an unpredictable plot. The fairly flat, and sometimes archetypal dispositions of the characters are made up for by the complex and enjoyable nature of the tale. Read more ›

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Homer has the right stuff August 13, 2005

By Bernard M. Patten VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Pretty good and a classic. I've read it four times and it gets better and better. It's packed with exciting adventure and sufficient love interest (both marital and adulterous). There is a host of interesting characters including Calypso, a great man eater and a Lolita, the teen aged Nausicaa. Homer doesn't spell some things out about what happens with and to these women but I get it now whereas I didn't get it in high school. Events: They blind that one-eyed monster, do drugs (the lotus), and have some rough sailing excitement engineered by angry gods and goddesses. That final scene is in the best tradition of the American Western with fighting and winged death by that powerful bow. It's a page turned and much much better than the Iliad. The tone is calmer, pondered, not ponderous. And then there is the montage, the use of stories within stories and background info embedded in myth and history. Wow! Homer has the right stuff. He's great. But did he really write all of it? My impression is that the last 20 pages are so different in tone and quality that they are not his.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Cute Presentation, but prose? Really? September 5, 2011

By Striggy

Format:Hardcover

If you're going for appearance, you might enjoy this version of Homer's Odyssey. However, if you're looking for a verse translation or value fidelity to the original work at all, this is probably not your first choice. Like many classics, the modern variation has been altered for easier consumption. This isn't always a good thing.

I personally would suggest Lattimore's translation. There's a copy out which is equally pretty, but remarkably true to its source. It was first recommended to me by a Classics Professor at UC Berkeley.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Master of Disguises July 8, 2006

By Mary E. Sibley VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

The introduction characterizes THE ILIAD as a tragedy and THE ODYSSEY as a novel. The Homeric epics deal with the Trojan War and its aftermath. Many years after the sack of Troy Odysseus has not returned to his faithful wife Penelope because he, among other things, is being detained by the Nymph, Calypso. Homer regarded the gods as made in the image and likeness of man. Zeus claims to his daughter, Athene, that it is his brother, Poseidon, who has kept Odysseus, her favorite, in exile. In Poseidon's absence Athene is able to persuade Zeus to send Hermes, the messanger god, to Calypso to demand the release of Odysseus.

Athene disguises herself and travels to Ithaca. Suitors of Penelope are eating Odysseus's son, Telemachus, out of house and home. Athene advises Telemachus to sail away from Ithaca to see Nestor and afterwards Menelaus to discover the reason for the delay in his father's return. He is urged to be as brave as Orestes who killed the usurper Aegisthus to avenge the death of his father, Agamemnon. Telemachus does consult Nestor. Nestor supplies a chariot, and with his son as the driver, Telemachus is able to proceed to Lacedaemon to the palace of Menelaus. Telemachus hears from Menelaus the rumor that Odysseus has been waylaid by Calypso.

The scene shifts to Calypso and Odysseus. Calypso has received a visit from Hermes and Odysseus is ready to set sail. He travels for seventeen days to the land of the Phaecians. The daughter of the king instructs Odysseus to obtain the sympathy of her mother for his enterprise in order to obtain help to return to Ithaca. Some of Odysseus's comrades were lost to the appetites of the Cyclops and the Lastrygonians. Later Odysseus and his men spent a year with Circe. Odysseus traveled to the underworld for Circe.... His men ate the cattle of the god of the sun, Hyperion, and so there is no homecoming for them. It seems that Odysseus is the sole survivor of his party.

There are more than a hundred suitors, feasting, carousing, and plotting to kill Telemachus. Upon arriving at Ithaca, Athene tells Odysseus to stay at first with the swineherd, Eumaeus. He, the King of Ithaca, is disguised as an old poor man. Telemachus is ordered to return home with haste. He endeavors to by-pass Nestor so as not to have his stay abroad prolonged. When Odysseus presents himself to Telemachus, Telemachus does not believe he is Odysseus since earlier he has the visage of an old and impoverished man. Finally Telemachus is led to believe his father has returned and the two men plot to regain Telemachus's birthright.

Odysseus explains that he will appear at the palace as a beggar. Telemachus is to secure the weapons in the storeroom. While the suitors are participating in a contest to string Odysseus's bow, Odysseus enlists the swineherd and the cowman in his campaign to overwhelm the suitors and capture the palace. After stringing the bow, Odysseus discloses his identity to the suitors. Slaughter ensues. The wily Odysseus, the possessor of a golden tongue, is able to argue with a mob, members of the families of the suitors, that they are to blame for the deaths of their sons since they did not seek to restrain them and cause them to modify their behavior.

This first novel continues to reward the reader and rereader. One of the more interesting aspects of the experience is Homer's fine perception of matters concerning ethics and morals. The Rieu translation is excellent, exceedingly readable. Read more ›