Homer: The Odyssey - Emily Wilson

A lean, fleet-footed translation that recaptures Homer’s "nimble gallop" and brings an ancient epic to new life. The first great adventure story in the Western canon, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty and power; about marriage, family and identity; and about travellers, hospitality and the changing meanings of home in a strange world. This vivid new translation—the first by a woman—matches the number of lines in the Greek original, striding at Homer’s sprightly pace. Emily Wilson employs elemental, resonant language and an iambic pentameter to produce a translation with an enchanting “rhythm and rumble” that avoids proclaiming its own grandeur. An engrossing tale told in a compelling new voice that allows contemporary readers to luxuriate in Homer’s descriptions and similes and to thrill at the tension and excitement of its hero’s adventures, Wilson recaptures what is “epic” about this wellspring of world literature. "The first version of Homer's groundbreaking work by a woman will change our understanding of it forever... Emily Wilson’s crisp and musical version is a cultural landmark. Armed with a sharp, scholarly rigour, she has produced a translation that exposes centuries of masculinist readings of the poem." — Charlotte Higgins, Poetry Book of the Day, The Guardian Pages 592 Publication Date 2018 Publisher W. W. Norton & Company Ltd. ISBN 9780393356250 Binding Paperback Author Emily Wilson