Iliad and Odyssey boxed set | Homer

Iliad and Odyssey boxed set | Homer | Wonderful

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Iliad and Odyssey ...

	Iliad and Odyssey boxed set Homer Penguin Classics, 1999 - 1 pages average customer review:based on 37 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A beautiful gift set of Robert Fagles' award-winning translations of Homer

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.

* Deluxe paperback editions with French flaps and acid-free paper in a handsome slipcase

* Robert Fagles is the recipient of the 1997 PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters

* The Iliad was a New York Times Notable Book and won the 1991 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award by The Academy of American Poets, an award from the Translation Center of Columbia University, and the New Jersey Humanities Book Award

* The Odyssey was chosen by Time as one of the ten Best Books of 1996

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Only the dead...

"The Iliad":
It is obvious that, as Santayana wrote in 1924, "Only the dead have seen the end of war" and, as elegantly shown in Fagles' translation of, "The Iliad", the tradition of military brutality coupled with the equally obvious fact that, "Iron has powers to draw a man to ruin" (Odyssey) are elements of the human condition; they exert a compelling attraction in their various forms and facets to humans of all stripes, but especially, perhaps, to poets, historians and novelists.

"The Iliad", as is known to any high school student, recounts the siege of Troy by the Achaens and the "rage of Achilles" directed both toward his putative ally and commander (Agamemnon) and to his enemy, Troy. The machinations of the gods underpin the tale, with the Judgement of Paris (arousing the ire of Hera, Queen of the Gods) as the motive force. There is gore galore in the epic poem and plenty of raw emotion, tellingly conveyed in the new English text. The extensive introductory remarks by Bernard Knox place the work in historical and literary context.

While this translation has been extolled by a pantheon of reviewers as the "climax" of the art, I still favor the E.V. Rieu (founder of Penguin Classics) prose version of 1946 of both this epic and "The Odyssey". Rieu's effort (acknowledged by the translator, but not considered on par with others) carries the reader in a more "Victorian" and perhaps fastidious fashion to the harrowing conclusion (Achilles triumph over Hector, killer of Patroclus). I am not able to compare the various versions with respect to the original; I only express my opinion as a lay reader.

"The Odyssey":
The "sequel" to "The Iliad", this recounts the eponymous saga of Odysseus (Ulysses) in his attempts to return home from the siege of Troy. It is truly an epic and is, like "The Iliad", one of the cornerstones of Western literature. Really, one cannot claim to be "educated" in Western civilization without a working knowledge of these two books. The claimant to the throne of "best book of the 20th Century" , James Joyce's, "Ulysses" simply cannot be fully appreciated nor understood without a knowledge of this work. As I wrote for, "The Iliad", the new Fagles translation is outstanding, but I again favor Rieu's version; a minority opinion.

In conclusion, these are magnificent works which deserve the recent attention the Fagles/Knox collaboration has engendered. "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" should be read and appreciated in any translation, but these are probably the best. Both also prove that, "...fate takes hold and lays them out at last" (Athena to Telemachus, "Odyssey"). So also does hubris and the lure of revenge, because, like fate, the lust for revenge cannot be tricked.

Incidentally, the boxed set/deluxe edition is well worth owning, compared to the "trade" paperback edition.

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Wonderful

This boxed set was almost a steal it was such a price and quality! The works flowed with what can only be assumed near the original prose and was explained in great detail. Please do buy this item!

Highly readable translation

Highly readable translation that conveys the poetic beauty of the Illiad and the Odyssey. The typography and physical construction of these volumes is also excellent.

Accessible cornerstone of Western literature

Without knowledge of the Iliad and the Odyssey it is difficult to understand the many allusions and references to them encountered in the ancient sources, as well as many allegories and adaptations of more modern times. This set translated by Robert Fagles, with the enlightening introductions by Bernard Knox, allows one to easily become familiar with the stories, mythology and characters that are not only entertaining in their own right, but are essential building blocks to Western history and literature.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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