A BRILLIANT TRANSLATION - SUPERBLY READ
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| Review Date: December 26, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Gail Cooke, TX, USA |
As most know, Homer's Odyssey is the story of the adventures of Odysseus as he makes his way home, to the Greek island of Ithaca, after the war in Troy. Those who groaned when it was assigned in high school or college will do an abrupt about face when they hear Robert Fagles's brilliant translation read by acclaimed actor Sir Ian McKellan. Those becoming familiar with the Odyssey for the first time through this audio are fortunate as it is a superb introduction.
Surely McKellan's compelling, resonant reading deserves an award. On a printed page the following words are static, inanimate. In McKellan's voice they ring, seducing listeners as they hear the story of Odysseus.
"Sing to me of the man, Muse, the
man of twists and turns
Driven time and again off course..."
A Professor of Comparative Literature Emeritus at Princeton, Robert Fagles won accolades for this translation of The Iliad - rightly so. He deserves the same and more for his translation of The Odyssey as he loses none of the original yet contemporizes Homer's masterpiece. Many today will easily identify with Odysseus, an iconic survivor.
In The New Yorker Garry Wills wrote: "Robert Fagles is the best living translator of ancient Greek drama, lyric poetry, and epic into modern English, and his translation of the Odyssey is his finest work so far."
What more can one say except enjoy?
Very highly recommended.
- Gail Cooke |
The Way It Was Meant to Be Heard
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| Review Date: March 4, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Gordon R. Durand, Southern Oregon |
I knew I'd never get around to reading it. But after all, for its first five hundred years, nobody read it--they listened to it, as the bard sang it, from memory. Now we have a chance to listen again (and again) as Ian McKellen reads this powerful prose translation by Robert Fagles.
Now I count myself lucky to have long road trips (six and a half hours each way) to listen to this epic. I've listened clear through at least three times. My thirteen-year-old son (not particularly literate, like most kids these days) listened through for extra credit in history class. And the whole family enjoyed the first three books on a one-hour drive into the mountains.
The box includes an excellent 112-page introduction by Bernard Knox and eleven CDs nicely packaged. Keep it in the glove box. It's better than coffee on a long drive. |
Superb
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| Review Date: November 10, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Alessandro Abate, Miami, Florida |
| The only thing that could possibly make Robert Fagles translation of the Odyssey better is Ian McKellen's masterful reading. Sir Ian McKellen makes the text come alive with his wonderful performance. If you like the odyssey you owe it to yourself to get this CD set. |
Gandalf reads the Odyssey...what's not to like?
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| Review Date: May 1, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Jesse Rouse, Kenosha, WI |
I thought that this is perhaps the best audio book I have ever listened to, rivaled only by John Cleese's reading of C. S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters. Ian McKellon, whom most know primarily through his role as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, reads with the same epic sounding voice that he employed in the Lord of the Rings (as oppossed to less epic sounding voice inflection he employed in Xmen). Somehow his voice just sounds as ancient and mythical as the Odyssey itself. I cannot imagine a better reader for this book. I wish he had done the Iliad as well.
As for the translation itself, I must disagree with those who claim that it is the best. It is, I grant you, better than the thoroughly modernized versions like W. H. D. Rouse's, but I think it is (very) slightly too modernized. Phrases like shilly-shallying or other modern phrases simply do not belong in ancient texts like the Odyssey. That said, they did keep that type of language to a minimum, and the only better translation I have come across is Richard Lattimore's. For the most part this translation keeps the epic feel that the Odyssey should have, and Ian McKellen's voice only adds to this. I highly recommend this version. It is one of the few audio books I think is worth a second listen.
Overall grade: A+ |
Outstanding rendition
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| Review Date: August 13, 2008 |
| Reviewer: From_Plano_TX, Plano, TX USA |
This is an absolutely fabulous product, but if you are not used to listening to audio books, I should give you a warning. This product is 11 CD's of one person speaking for about 13 hours. Can you imagine sitting down in the morning at home and staring at the wall for 13 hours while same voice goes on and on, all day and into the night? No, that won't work. So you at least have to break up the experience into chunks. Also, you might need to be doing something else as well, like walking or driving, so you don't drift off. What I did was listen while driving and intermingle other disks so I would not tire of the same voice. I would listen to one disk of the Odyssey, then I'd listen to a disk of music or a non-fiction lecture, then I'd put in another disk of the Odyssey.
However, the last 4 disks were so gripping I listened to them one after the other and could hardly wait for the next disk. Part of this was Ian McKellen's excellent, nay, masterful, enunciation and inflection. Part of the excitement is the climatic end when Odysseus returns home. Can you imagine a gripping 3 hour long buildup to the climatic moment when he reveals his return? Nothing else can compare!
I probably identified with the climax more now that I am middle-aged, with a home, a wife, and children approaching adulthood than I could have if I was a teenager listening to this or reading the book. There is little as primal to a mature man as the defense of his home and family.
It is astounding to experience a story this exciting and know it is about 2,800 years old.
I listened to this story on audio CD because I realized that I would never read this story because I have gone so far into my life without reading it yet. I'm very glad I listened to it instead of trying to read it. For one thing, how could I begin to pronounce so many Greek names? If you have started reading the book and put it down, try reading it by following along with this audio book. The audio book is abridged, but it is 13 hours long so I'm sure you would have a lot of text to follow along with.
If you think you know the story of the Odyssey because you've seen a movie based on the story, I will say the story by Homer is much grander and more full bodied than what has been depicted in movies. I'd go so far as to say the movies miss the real point of the Odyssey.
Robert Fagles has also translated the Aeneid and the Iliad. I've listened to those on audio CD as well and liked them all. I am a big fan of Derek Jacobi, who narrated the Iliad. I liked the Odyssey best of all. |
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