The Odyssey: The Fitzgerald Translation

by Homer Narrated by Dan Stevens

Overview

Robert Fitzgerald's translation of The Odyssey has been the standard translation for more than three generations of students and poets. Macmillan Audio is delighted to publish the first ever audio edition of this classic work, the greatest of all epic poems. Fitzgerald's supple verse is ideally suited for audio, recounting 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 listener in all its glory.

In keeping with the oral tradition of the time, Dan Stevens, whose many celebrated performances include Downton Abbey's Matthew Crawley, makes this epic tale come alive. The listener becomes totally immersed in the adventure and drama of the story — this is the way The Odyssey was meant to be experienced.

Also included on the program is a portion of the poem read in ancient Greek so that listeners may experience the lyricism and music of the original language.

A Macmillan Audio production.

Editorial Reviews

OCTOBER 2014 - AudioFile

With his regal delivery and majestic sense of pacing, Dan Stevens is the ideal narrator for Homer’s epic tale. The challenges that Odysseus encounters on his return home from war are as riveting as always—dangers and temptations and obstacles rear up without respite as his family awaits word of his safety. Stevens leaps into the text with apparent relish, enunciating Fitzgerald’s fine and comprehensive translation with painstaking precision and infusing the story with life. While the performance is excellent and the text remains timeless, the recording is best appreciated in segments rather than long listening stretches. The grandiose style, while suited to the audio format, can become overwhelming after a while, not unlike Odysseus’s journey did for the hero and his family. L.B.F. 2015 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher

A masterpiece . . . An Odyssey worthy of the original.” —William Arrowsmith, The Nation

“Here there is no anxious straining after mighty effects, but rather a constant readiness for what the occasion demands, a kind of Odyssean adequacy to the task in hand.” —Seamus Heaney

OCTOBER 2014 - AudioFile

With his regal delivery and majestic sense of pacing, Dan Stevens is the ideal narrator for Homer’s epic tale. The challenges that Odysseus encounters on his return home from war are as riveting as always—dangers and temptations and obstacles rear up without respite as his family awaits word of his safety. Stevens leaps into the text with apparent relish, enunciating Fitzgerald’s fine and comprehensive translation with painstaking precision and infusing the story with life. While the performance is excellent and the text remains timeless, the recording is best appreciated in segments rather than long listening stretches. The grandiose style, while suited to the audio format, can become overwhelming after a while, not unlike Odysseus’s journey did for the hero and his family. L.B.F. 2015 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169427219
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	09/16/2014
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	1,153,354

Videos