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Homer - The Odyssey
Hardcover
Published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 27, 2026
“I long to be homeward bound,” Simon and Garfunkel
Homer (Author)
Robert Fagles (Translator)
Bernard Knox (Introduction and Notes)
Robert Fagles (copyrighted, but widely quoted)
“Sing to me of the man, Muse…”
The Trojan War is over, and one of our hero kings is lost. His son (Telemachus) travels to find any information about his father’s fate. His wife (Penelope) must cunningly hold off suitors who are eating them out of house and home.
If he ever makes it home, Odysseus will have to detect those servants loyal from those who are not. One absent king against rows of suitors; how will he give them their just desserts? We look to Bright-Eyed Pallas Athena to help prophecy come true.
Interestingly, all the tales of monsters and gods on the sea voyage were told by Odysseus. Notice that no one else survives to tell the tale. Therefore, we have to rely on Odysseus’s word.
Many movies took sections of The Odyssey and expanded them into interesting stories in their own right.
Not just the story but also how it is told will keep you up late at night reading.
It is a tear-jerker when Odysseus returns, 20 years later, and the only one to recognize him is Argos, his faithful dog, who lived long enough to see him. Upon seeing his master return home, Argos dies.
You will, of course, want to buy the various translations to see the differences in reading style and content.
Homer (Author)
Robert Fagles (Translator)
Bernard Knox (Introduction and Notes)
Robert Fagles (copyrighted, but widely quoted)
“Sing to me of the man, Muse…”
The Trojan War is over, and one of our hero kings is lost. His son (Telemachus) travels to find any information about his father’s fate. His wife (Penelope) must cunningly hold off suitors who are eating them out of house and home.
If he ever makes it home, Odysseus will have to detect those servants loyal from those who are not. One absent king against rows of suitors; how will he give them their just desserts? We look to Bright-Eyed Pallas Athena to help prophecy come true.
Interestingly, all the tales of monsters and gods on the sea voyage were told by Odysseus. Notice that no one else survives to tell the tale. Therefore, we have to rely on Odysseus’s word.
Many movies took sections of The Odyssey and expanded them into interesting stories in their own right.
Not just the story but also how it is told will keep you up late at night reading.
It is a tear-jerker when Odysseus returns, 20 years later, and the only one to recognize him is Argos, his faithful dog, who lived long enough to see him. Upon seeing his master return home, Argos dies.
You will, of course, want to buy the various translations to see the differences in reading style and content.
February 2, 2026
Wow. Never read this one in my younger years but just read it with my class of ten seniors! What an engaging story that lent itself to conversations of depth and questions of worldview, struggle, motivations and identity.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews