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The Odyssey | 
 enlarge | Author: Homer
Creator: Charles Stein
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $14.17
You Save: $8.78 (38%)
New (36) Used (6) from $14.12
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 1016313
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 656
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.3
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.6
ISBN: 1556437285
Dewey Decimal Number: 883.01
EAN: 9781556437281
ASIN: 1556437285
Publication Date: October 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new Book, ALL days Low Price !
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Most translations of The Odyssey are in the kind of standard verse form believed typical of high-serious composition in the ancient world. Yet some scholars believe the epic was originally composed in a less formal, phrase-by-phrase prosody. Charles Stein employs the latter approach in this dramatic, and in some ways truer, version. Famous episodes such as the sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, and the Cyclops, are rendered with previously unseen energy and empathy. The poem’s second half—where Odysseus, returned home to take revenge on his wife’s suitors—has extraordinarily subtle, “novelistic” features that are made more transparent in this version. There is also a special feel for the archaic dimensions of Homer—the world of gods and their complex relations to Fate and Being that other translators tend to deemphasize in order to make the poem feel “modern.” Most versions exclude or minimize the magical aspects of the poem, but Stein gives these elements full play, so that the spirit of a universe predating the classical era shines through. This vibrant version of The Odyssey shows readers not only what the Greeks thought about their gods but the gods themselves. Summaries preceding each chapter and a list of recommended websites help expand the experience.
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| Customer Reviews:
Homer Ancient and Contemporary, Not Victorian October 14, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Until now, even the best available translations of The Odyssey were musty. The last several translations were dead on arrival--already tired and distant. They were reminders that no one now quite gets what poetry is, and we read Homer because, among poetic celebrities, being famous for being famous, Homer is the most famous. Of course, we have no idea what Homeric verse was or what a Homeric performance would have sounded like. I think Homer may have sounded like Blind Lemon Jefferson and the early blues singers. Stein gives us a Homer that is surely as like the real Homer as any of our other translations (probably not very like), and he gives us poetry that might reawaken many ears to what poetry really is. It needs to be read allowed. It feels good in your mouth. In content and style, it is a million miles from rap, but attentive readers should find it invigorating as rap sometimes is.
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