TeachingBooks
The Odyssey

Book Resume

for The Odyssey by Homer

Professional book information and credentials for The Odyssey.

See full Book Resume
on TeachingBooks

teachingbooks.net/QLQKVVM

  • Publisher's Weekly:
  • Ages 12 and up
  • TeachingBooks:*
  • Grades 9-12
  • Lexile Level:
  • 890L
  • Genre:
  • Fairy Tales / Folklore
  • Poetry

The following 6 subject headings were determined by the U.S. Library of Congress and the Book Industry Study Group (BISAC) to reveal themes from the content of this book (The Odyssey).

The following unabridged reviews are made available under license from their respective rights holders and publishers. Reviews may be used for educational purposes consistent with the fair use doctrine in your jurisdiction, and may not be reproduced or repurposed without permission from the rights holders.

Note: This section may include reviews for related titles (e.g., same author, series, or related edition).

From Library Journal

February 15, 2018

Green (Dougherty Centennial Professor Emeritus of Classics, Univ. of Texas at Austin), classical historian, translator, and poet, whose many books include a noted biography of Alexander the Great, a history of the Persian War, and translations of the Argonautika and Ovid's Tristia, offers a new verse translation of the Odyssey, the product of many years of reading and thinking. As with his earlier translation of the Iliad, Green aspires to a "declaimable" style, inspired by C. Day Lewis's Aeneid and Richmond Lattimore's Iliad. He avoids the anarchizing tendencies of Stanley Lombardo, following an approach closer to that of Anthony Verity and Robert Fagles. Comparisons to Emily Wilson's recent translation are inevitable. While Wilson seeks a modern, readable version Green wishes to capture the strangeness of Homer's oral language, preserving the repetitive epithets and phraseology, using the transliteration of the Greek names rather than their Latinate forms, and following the linear rhetoric and syntax of the original. VERDICT Both Wilson and Green capture the spirit of the Odyssey, but word-for-word, Green also captures a feel for the Homeric language, an experience closer to the original.--Thomas L. Cooksey, formerly with Armstrong Atlantic State Univ., Savannah

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Library Journal

October 15, 2017

The enduring character of the epic poem The Odyssey invites repeated attempts at translation, here most recently an energetic verse rendition by Wilson (classical studies, Univ. of Pennsylvania), who has authored books on the nature of tragedy, Socrates, and Seneca, as well as translations of plays by Euripides and Seneca. Wilson's goal is for the work to sound natural to the modern reader without falling into contemporizing anachronisms, such as those found in the translation of Stanley Lombardo. Unlike Robert Fagles or Robert Fitzgerald, Wilson deploys a natural English syntax, while closely following Homer's lines. Like Fagles and Barry P. Powell, she adopts iambic pentameter and seeks a diction that does not sound archaic, using the Latinate version of names and submerging many of the recurrent epithets. Thus Odysseus, "the man of many turns," becomes the "complicated man," or "bright-eyed goddess, Athena" becomes "she looked him straight into the eye," true to the spirit of the text if not always the word. Wilson is particularly sensitive to the tone and description applied to the many women throughout the narrative, especially Helen and Penelope. VERDICT Wilson offers a fluent, straightforward, and accessible version of the Homeric epic; a solid reading edition.--Thomas L. Cooksey, formerly with Armstrong Atlantic State Univ., Savannah

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Kirkus

September 15, 2017
Fresh version of one of the world's oldest epic poems, a foundational text of Western literature.Sing to me, O muse, of the--well, in the very opening line, the phrase Wilson (Classical Studies, Univ. of Pennsylvania) chooses is the rather bland "complicated man," the adjective missing out on the deviousness implied in the Greek polytropos, which Robert Fagles translated as "of twists and turns." Wilson has a few favorite words that the Greek doesn't strictly support, one of them being "monstrous," meaning something particularly heinous, and to have Telemachus "showing initiative" seems a little report-card-ish and entirely modern. Still, rose-fingered Dawn is there in all her glory, casting her brilliant light over the wine-dark sea, and Wilson has a lively understanding of the essential violence that underlies the complicated Odysseus' great ruse to slaughter the suitors who for 10 years have been eating him out of palace and home and pitching woo to the lovely, blameless Penelope; son Telemachus shows that initiative, indeed, by stringing up a bevy of servant girls, "their heads all in a row / ...strung up with the noose around their necks / to make their death an agony." In an interesting aside in her admirably comprehensive introduction, which extends nearly 80 pages, Wilson observes that the hanging "allows young Telemachus to avoid being too close to these girls' abused, sexualized bodies," and while her reading sometimes tends to be overly psychologized, she also notes that the violence of Odysseus, by which those suitors "fell like flies," mirrors that of some of the other ungracious hosts he encountered along his long voyage home to Ithaca.More faithful to the original but less astonishing than Christopher Logue's work and lacking some of the music of Fagles' recent translations of Homer; still, a readable and worthy effort.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From Library Journal

Starred review from February 1, 2015

Scholars and poets regard Fitzgerald's translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey as among the best published and are seen as great poems in English on their own. Now they are available as audiobooks, narrated by actor Dan Stevens. The Iliad places the listener amid the Trojans and Greeks as they engage in a give-and-take warfare before the walls of Troy. Achilles initially refuses to fight, as Agamemnon has taken a Trojan women Achilles claims as a prize. Athena, Hera, and Poseidon side with the Greeks, while Troy finds allies in Apollo and Aphrodite. Zeus oversees all, favoring one side, then the other. The Odyssey recounts the trek of the great warrior Odysseus from the sacked Troy back home to Ithaca. Gods, goddesses, mortals, and monsters conspire to derail the voyage. Both Zeus and Poseidon intervene, destroying Odysseus's ships and killing his crew. In Ithaca, many suitors court Odysseus's wife, Penelope, in hopes to marry the widow of the supposedly fallen hero. Stevens's (of Downton Abbey fame) superb narration brings both stories to vivid life, giving the listener a feel for what it was like to hear it recited back in ancient Greece. Both audiobooks include bonus tracks of portions of the poem recited the original Greek. VERDICT Among the best audiobooks of the year, this set is recommended to all listeners.--Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. Parkersburg Lib.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Publisher's Weekly

October 27, 2014
British actor Stevens of Downton Abbey fame brings Homer's epic poem to life with this well-executed reading of the classic tale of the Greek hero Odysseus and his 10-year journey home. When Odysseus is presumed dead after the Trojan War, his wife, Penelope, is awash with suitors looking to court her and in turn take over the land. While Penelope stalls the persistent suitors, her husband is cursed to wander the seas encountering all manner of mythical beings and even the gods, who all play their part in helping, or mostly hindering, the hero in his quest to find home. Stevens, with a cool, unmannered delivery, brings a modern vocal interpretation to his performance, making this ancient poem engaging to the modern ear and easy to listen to. With his relaxed reading, Stevens proves that this classic poem is definitely not some dry, dusty work of ancient history, but a vibrant exciting story that, like the best tales of adventure, works best when read aloud, as scholars contend it was intended. A Farrar, Straus and Giroux paperback.

From Booklist

Starred review from October 1, 2013
Employing the five-beat, minimally iambic line he used for his translation of The Iliad (2011), Mitchell retells the first, still greatest adventure story in Western literature with the same clarity, sweep, and force. Those similarities in his translations contradict the two poems' differences. The Iliad portrays a civilization engaged in its most significant activities; The Odyssey depicts the archetype of the Western civilized individual. Mitchell doesn't draw that particular distinction but, first thing in the introduction, points out that most Homeric scholars believe one Homer wrote The Iliad, and another Homer, The Odyssey. The second quotes the first often but varies so in vocabulary, grammar, geographical perspective, theology, and moral values that it's unlikely he's the same poet. Many ordinary readers have found The Odyssey more modern, by which they mean more like a contemporary novelmore psychological, more personal because of the strong point-of-view characters, Odysseus and his son, Telemachus. The Odyssey is also scarier, a very au courant quality. There are many more violent deaths in The Iliadthere's a war going on, after allbut nothing as ghoulishly terrifying (and starkly related by Mitchell) as what Polyphemus, the Laestrygonians, and Scylla do to Odysseus' crew. Stephen King, eat your heart out.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

From Horn Book

January 1, 2012
This inexpensive condensed version of Homer's epic competently delineates plot points, following Odysseus on his myriad adventures. However, the retelling sacrifices complexity of language and depth of theme ostensibly in the name of age-appropriateness. Occasional black-and-white illustrations highlight the hero's quest and some of the mythical creatures he encounters. Discussion questions and a "Note to Parents and Educators" are appended.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From Publisher's Weekly

September 6, 2010
One of the oldest and most often retold literary classics is faithfully recreated in watercolors and pastels. Hinds, who has previously adapted Beowulf and several Shakespeare plays in comics format, uses different translations as a basis for his adaptation, trimming the text but keeping all the events of Odysseus' journey home from the Trojan War. The adaptation is most impressive in its ability to convey the despair, anguish, and joy of the characters in a sudden, striking way that text alone can't, pulling these familiar figures out from a thousands�"year-old story and presenting the reader with human faces. Hinds's watercolor landscapes of the Greek coast, islands, and mountains are another strong point. But seeing the characters as they exchange archaic dialogue emphasizes its stilted and unnatural quality. And in some sections, particularly in early exposition, the text is so plentiful it crowds out the art. Still, Hinds has created a work that both honors the epic's long tradition and helps readers see these characters in a new light. Ages 12�"up.

From Publisher's Weekly

April 21, 2008
One of Britain's most successful poets, the versatile and clever Armitage follows up his translation of the medieval poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” with this engaging and compulsively readable adaptation of Homer's epic, in which the wily sailor-hero Odysseus must outplay, outwit or outlast seductive nymphs, a malevolent enchantress, a one-eyed giant, and his own impious crew in order to reach his home island, his son and his faithful wife. Written for BBC radio, Armitage's version is not a translation of the ancient Greek epic, but rather a dramatic rendering, divided into scenes with parts (mostly in verse) for voice actors. Armitage delivers fast paced and decidedly contemporary language: Odysseus himself envisions “A freak wave cracking the keel of some poor sailing ship.... Just the Gods doing their thing.” The transformation of a tale about one man into exchanges among sets of characters can make things seem choppy early on, but it pays off when Odysseus reaches home and has to maintain his disguise until he can slaughter his wife's suitors. Armitage's play will entertain, if not enlighten, anyone interested in the fresh ways that Homer's story can be told.

From Library Journal

July 1, 2004
Translations of Homer tend to fall on a spectrum, ranging from those of Lattimore or Murray and Dimock (Loeb Classics), which aim to be faithful to the subtleties of the Greek, to those of Fagles and Fitzgerald, which aim to be good English poetry as well. This new version of the Odyssey falls in the middle. McCrorie (English, Providence Coll.) is a poet and translator whose accomplishments include a version of Virgil's Aeneid. For his Odyssey, he developed a modified dactyl that allows him to achieve the swiftness and rhythmic variety of Homer. Bringing a sensitive ear to Homer's diction and verbal formulas, he transliterates names rather than using their Latin equivalents in order to remain close to the sound of the Greek. If this translation does not stand out from the others available, it is nevertheless a worthy addition. Recommended for all academic libraries.-T.L. Cooksey, Armstrong Atlantic State Univ., Savannah, GA

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Publisher's Weekly

November 4, 1996
Robert Fagles's 1990 translation of The Iliad was highly praised; here, he moves to The Odyssey. As in the previous work, he adroitly mixes contemporary language with the driving rhythms of the original. The first line reads: "Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns/ driven time and again off course once he had plundered/ the hallowed heights of Troy." Hellenic scholar Bernard Knox contributes extensive introductory commentary, providing both historical and literary perspective. Notes, a pronouncing glossary, genealogies, a bibliography and maps of Homer's world are included.

From AudioFile Magazine

That "man of twists and turns," the great Odysseus, is a fitting hero for modern contemplation. He is a powerful warrior, an adventurer, a man of honor and tenderness. He is a survivor. He is also a victim of fate, a trickster and a ruthless avenger. In Robert Fagles's masterful translation we have a fresh look at this old story. Fagles chose to preserve the iambic pentameter form which, as Ian McKellen presents it, is never singsong but always singing. The story dances quietly along, pulling the listener toward the inevitable cadence that concludes each book. It's a deeply satisfying experience to listen to McKellen's subtle, resonant voice weave the story. Cherish the images as the web of this great tale is woven before the eyes of the mind. L.R.S. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

The Odyssey was selected by educational and library professionals to be included on the following state/provincial reading lists.

United States Lists (2)

Louisiana

  • Louisiana Believes ELA Guidebooks, Grade 9

New York

Explore The Odyssey on Marketplace. Access requires OverDrive Marketplace login.


This Book Resume for The Odyssey is compiled from TeachingBooks, a library of professional resources about children's and young adult books. This page may be shared for educational purposes and must include copyright information. Reviews are made available under license from their respective rights holders and publishers.

*Grade levels are determined by certified librarians utilizing editorial reviews and additional materials. Relevant age ranges vary depending on the learner, the setting, and the intended purpose of a book.

Retrieved from TeachingBooks on February 23, 2025. © 2001-2025 TeachingBooks.net, LLC. All rights reserved by rights holders.