The Odyssey: The Fitzgerald Translation

Front Cover
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Nov 15, 1998 - Poetry - 510 pages

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

 

Selected pages

Contents

The Poem of Odysseus by D S CarneRoss
ix
Map of Homers World
lxxii
A Goddess Intervenes
1
A Heros Son Awakens
19
The Lord of the Western Approaches
35
The Redhaired King and His Lady
53
Sweet Nymph and Open Sea
81
The Princess at the River
99
How They Came to Ithaka
267
Father and Son
289
The Beggar at the Manor
309
Blows and a Queens Beauty
335
Recognitions and a Dream
353
Signs and a Vision
375
The Test of the Bow
391
Death in the Great Hall
409

Gardens and Firelight
111
The Songs of the Harper
125
New Coasts and Poseidons Son
145
The Grace of the Witch
165
A Gathering of Shades
185
Sea Perils and Defeat
209
One More Strange Island
229
Hospitality in the Forest
247
The Trunk of the Olive Tree
429
Warriors Farewell
445
A Note on the Text
465
Postscript by Robert Fitzgerald
467
Critical Writing on The Odyssey and Homeric Poetry
511
Notes and Glossary
513
Copyright

Other editions - View all

The Odyssey, Volume 2
Homer
Snippet view - 1961
The Odyssey, Volume 2
Homer
Snippet view - 1961
The Odyssey
Homer
Snippet view - 1963
View all »

Common terms and phrases

Akhaians answered arms Athena beautiful Book bright bring brought called clear cloak comes dark daughter Dawn dead dear death door earth eyes father feast fight friends gave gifts give goddess gods gone Greek guest hall hands hard head hear heard heart heaven held hold Homer honor island Ithaka keep killed king lady land leave light lives look lord maids master mean Menelaos mind mother move never night Odysseus once pass Penélopê poem prince replied rest round sail sent ship side soon speak spoke stand stay stood story stranger suitors tears Telémakhos tell things thought told took town translation Troy turned wide wife wind wine wish women young Zeus

About the author (1998)

Robert Fitzgerald's versions of the Iliad, the Aeneid, and the Oedipus cycle of Sophocles (with Dudley Fitts) are also classics. At his death, in 1988, he was Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard.

Homer is a legendary ancient Greek epic poet,traditionally said to be the creator of the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. Homer's works form the groundwork of the Western Canon and are universally praised for their genius. Their formative influence in shaping many key aspects of Greek culture was recognized by the Greeks themselves, who considered him as their instructor.

Bibliographic information

TitleThe Odyssey: The Fitzgerald Translation
AuthorHomer
Translated byRobert Fitzgerald
Illustrated byD. S. Carne-Ross
PublisherFarrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998
ISBN1466801476, 9781466801479
Length510 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Fiction / Classics
Poetry / Ancient & Classical
Poetry / Epic
Poetry / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
  
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