The Odyssey: The Fitzgerald Translation by Homer (PDF)

Description

Robert Fitzgerald’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey is the best and best-loved modern translation of the greatest of all epic poems. Since 1961, this Odyssey has sold more than two million copies, and it is the standard translation for three generations of students and poets. Farrar, Straus and Giroux is delighted to publish a new edition of this classic work. Fitzgerald’s supple verse is ideally suited to the story of Odysseus’ long journey back to his wife and home after the Trojan War. Homer’s tale of love, adventure, food and drink, sensual pleasure, and mortal danger reaches the English-language reader in all its glory.Of the many translations published since World War II, only Fitzgerald’s has won admiration as a great poem in English. The noted classicist D. S. Carne-Ross explains the many aspects of its artistry in his Introduction, written especially for this new edition.Winner of the Bollingen Prize

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Being a college honors student and someone who loves to read I greatly appreciate a good book. When I first saw the Odyssey on our honors book list for this semester, I was less than thrilled. I had seen my sister and brother reading it before and it was not something I had planned on reading, even though it is considered one of the great classics. After first reading the Iliad in class, my expectations for the Odyssey were fairly low. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was significantly different from the Iliad. The story line held my attention and the characters were ones I could relate with. The idea of a personal “odyssey” is one that I can now understand and I feel that it is a good way to look at life. The Odyssey also brings to attention the question of predetermined fate versus making your own destiny. With the role of the gods in the Odyssey it is clear that in some matters, the mortals have very little control, but there are also times when even the gods say that they cannot change fate. Although many people today do not believe in the Homeric gods, the questions presented in his writing lead one to search deeper into their own beliefs. Overall, I found that I actually really liked the Odyssey and got quite a lot out of it. It is a book that I plan to reread sometime in the future. I now better understand its historical and informational importance, and it is definitely something that I think liberal arts students should read.

⭐Robert Fitzgerald’s translation of the Odyssey is one to be admired and remembered for centuries to come. Fitzgerald’s translation of the Odyssey is easy to follow (in comparison to the Iliad) and keeps the reader intrigued. The Odyssey is the story of Odysseus and his journey home to Ithaca after an absence of twenty years. Although the Odyssey seems to have a very `basic’ story line, it is actually extremely complex. Throughout his journey home to Ithaca, Odysseus is faced with several different obstacles and loses many of his beloved friends/crew members. Fitzgerald does a wonderful job of taking Homer’s original text and translating it for the modern day reader to understand and comprehend. This is one of the main reasons why I was able to understand and comprehend the Odyssey.I was required to read a version of the Odyssey while in high school (not Fitzgerald’s version) and had an extremely difficult time understanding and comprehending what was going on. As a result, I was dreading the fact that I would once again have to read it for my college lit class. After being submerged to Fitzgerald’s translation, I realized that the Odyssey was actually a wonderful story with an even better story line.If you are interested in reading the Odyssey or are required to do so, I would highly recommend purchasing Fitzgerald’s translation. It is simple and easy for the modern reader to understand, yet is complex enough to keep you intrigued.

⭐I never could get used to reading on e-readers for just this reason: the Odyssey invites the reader to mark the pages, to annotate, to make connections and other notes. It is much easier, for me, to flip through pages and find references rather than paging through electronically. The translation is fluid and classic. Compared to the Lattimore translation, the Fitzgerald is more prozaic, less reflective the archaic poetic devices of Homer, perhaps. A wonderful companion book is Gregory Nagy’s scholarly book, “The Best of the Acheans,” which is an exegesis of the Greek hero, particularly in the Iliad and Odyssey. An understanding of the Odyssey (for the non-English major) is so crucial to understanding the Western literature that proceeds, from Shakespeare, to the Romantic poets, to the moderns. As E.M. Forster wrote in “Howard’s End,” “Only connect.” The Odyssey is the progenitor of the wanderer’s tale, from the Canterbury Tales to Joyce’s Ulysses to Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley. The paperback book is fine enough for mass market. This is a copy that is not meant to last, but meant to be paged over, marked, digested, discussed, and then discarded when it yellows and fades in 5 or 6 years.

⭐Clearly, this epic has stood the test of time. This translation, being a little over half a century old, is fairly popular and also appears to be standing the test of time, albeit a few millennia behind the original.The power of the story is unquestionable. Many of the themes and devices are common today (men gone to war, returning after they were long thought dead, heroes taken to lands of mysterious wonder, inner conflicts, monsters, revenge, being tossed about (on the wine-dark sea, no less) by powerful unseen forces). As with many of the classics, Homer’s Odyssey is cited often and read somewhat less often.Generally, I like the translation. I do not read or speak Greek, ancient or modern, so I cannot judge the quality and faithfulness to the original. In English, the flow of the story goes smoothly, interrupted only by the peculiar translation of the names. The familiar names, like Circe, have peculiar spelling, Kirke. (The audiobook reader pronounced it SEER see, which I would not have guessed.)

⭐I am reminded when the 18th Century poet Alexander Pope put Homer into English verse. A memorable comment was ” A beautiful poem, Mr. Pope, but you must not call it Homer.” Well, this translation by Fitzgerald doesn’t have that problem. If the test of Art is endurance, this translation is STILL around. And for those stumped at the perfect words of Odysseus to Nausicaa and are pulling their hair out, searching other translations: Your search is over!

⭐Fitzgerald’s translations of Homer are poetic and a pleasure to read. I can’t read the original Greek, but my understanding is that the original was not just a story, but a story told in the form of a poem. That’s the feel of Fitzgerald’s translations.Just the first line of the Odyssey gives a feeling of this: “Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story of that man skilled in all ways of contending.”

⭐This is an absolutely stunning production. Robert Fitzgerald’s wonderful translation – my personal favourite – brought to life by Dan Stevens with astonishing variety, understanding and depth. I’d recommend it unreservedly

⭐The real deal. Mesmeric and poetic

⭐The is my favorite translation. The prose and language just fits about as well as I think English can get. The best way to read The Odyssey is in verse form, and this is the best English version you will find. The introduction and extra content is also quite good.

⭐What can one say. The Odyssey is like nothing else in mythology except perhaps The Iliad. Love the Fitzgerald Translation and the reader of this audio book is excellent.

⭐really bad quality second-hand book

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