The Iliad
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4.0 • 107 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
The great war epic of Western literature, in a stunning translation by acclaimed classicist Robert Fagles
A Penguin Classic
Dating to the ninth century B.C., Homer’s timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to the wrenching, tragic conclusion of the Trojan War. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox observes in his superb introduction that although the violence of the Iliad is grim and relentless, it coexists with both images of civilized life and a poignant yearning for peace.
Combining the skills of a poet and scholar, Robert Fagles brings the energy of contemporary language to this enduring heroic epic. He maintains the drive and metric music of Homer’s poetry, and evokes the impact and nuance of the Iliad’s mesmerizing repeated phrases in what Peter Levi calls “an astonishing performance.”
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
More than almost any other book, Homer's Iliad is meant to be spoken aloud, so it's a natural fit for audiobooks. With his fluid translation of ancient Greek into the rhythms of contemporary conversation, Lombardo has rendered the story of the final stretch of the Trojan War and its plethora of jealous, vengeful gods and warriors feasting, battling and endlessly speechifying, more boldly modern and recognizable than the remote marble tableaux conjured by most other versions. Lombardo's expert reading makes the tale's convolutions easy to follow despite its length, and though he doesn't always reach for the extremes one might expect (Achilles' crashing rage sometimes sounds like mere irritation, and soldiers faced with certain death can seem less than petrified), his voice does become mesmerizing. The interruptions between books, in which Sarandon reads synopses of the next, are jarring and unnecessary, since the synopses are printed in a handy booklet, along with a useful map and list of names and places. Similarly, while the thrumming cello and percussion theme that opens and closes each book sets the tone nicely, the electronic chords that sometimes accompany dreams, deaths or appearances of the gods are rather off-putting. Such quibbles notwithstanding, Lombardo's Iliad both sings to 21st century ears and holds true to Homer's original vision; the blind bard would be proud. Lombardo has also translated and narrated Homer's Odyssey for Parmenides.
Customer Reviews
A Great Starter Iliad
If you've never read the Iliad, this is the translation for you. If you don't want to hear the name of every hero and his grandparents, this is the abridgment for you. Listen to it once or twice, then sit down with the full-length text.
Homer & Fagles: Brilliant; Penguin: useless
The Iliad is an extraordinary work of course. This is the first time I have read it. I was not disappointed by Homer nor by Fagles' translation. I enjoyed it greatly.
My disappointment (and the reason I give this edition two stars is because of the inexcusable laziness of Penguin. They quite obviously OCR'ed the text for this iBooks edition, and then didn't bother to have a competent proofreader edit the results. The consequences are that this is a digital edition marred by egregious OCR failures on what seemed like every page. It is nearly intolerable that Penguin treated a classic work with such evident disdain. I sincerely hope never to have such an experience with a Penguin property again, because if I do I will simply stop buying them. I love their dead tree editions, but this digital edition was a tremendous disappointment.
A further disappointment is that Penguin couldn't be bothered to link the notes (found at the end of the book) to the text! How hard would it be to provide a link at book four, line 300 to the relevant note so that the interested reader doesn't have to keep a digital finger at the end of the book and try to keep track of when he needs to look at the notes as he is reading? Again: tremendously disappointing. Lazy. Cheap.
Homer, I think you are great. Dr. Fagles, you were fantastic. Penguin, for shame!!
Poorly Done
Great footnotes but no links to them. All these great features that e-books have but the publishers don't use them and you don't know it until they've already got your money!