The Odyssey

Description

'Muse, tell me of a man: a man of much resource, who was made to wander far and long, after he had sacked the sacred city of Troy. Many were the men whose lands he saw and came to know their thinking: many too the miseries at sea which he suffered in his heart, as he sought to win his own life and the safe return of his companions.' Recounting the epic journey home of Odysseus from the Trojan War, The Odyssey - alongside its sister poem The Iliad - stands as the well-spring of Western Civilisation and culture, an inspiration to poets, writers and thinkers for thousands of years since. This authoritative prose translation by Martin Hammond brings Homer's great poem of homecoming to life as Odysseus battles through such familiar dangers as the cave of the Cyclops, the call of the Sirens and his hostile reception back in his native land of Ithaca.

Homer is known only as the author of the The Iliad and The Odyssey, the two epic poems of the Trojan War and its aftermath that mark the birth of Western culture. Nothing is known of his life. Martin Hammond was Head of Classics at Eton College, UK, and subsequently Master in College. Since 1990 he has been Headmaster of Tonbridge School, UK. He is the translator of the Penguin Classics edition of Homer's The Iliad.

An excellent version... it may well prove the translation for this and the next generation. * Sir Roger Tomkys, Anglo-Hellenic Review * Hammond's admirable translation....is remarkably successful in combining accuracy with a lively and highly readable style * A.F.Garvie, Classical Review * Martin Hammond's new version is clearly a labour of love and a wonderful achievement as it has none [of the faults of other versions] and although it is in prose, if read aloud the prose transforms itself into poetry. It is as close to the Greek as it is possible to get and keeps all the formulaic patterns so that the music of the original shines out and rings in the ear.....It is instilled with magic Mediterranean light.....I have now read it seven times and find I get more from each re-reading * William Cookson, AGENDA * Hammond's precise and highly readable translation embraces not only the immediate human appeal of the Odyssey but also much of what is alien to modern literary culture: 'modes of speech, insistent narrative sequencing, the wealth of formulaic repetition' ... [It] offers Anglophone readers a faithful and direct experience of the style and manner of Homer's great poem. * The Classical Review * Overall this is a highly professional production, to be seriously considered for textbook use in the classroom. * Journal of Classics Teaching * Hammond succeeds admirably in presenting a translation that is easy and enjoyable to read and faithful to Homer * D.M.Goldstein, Bryn Mawr Classical Review * This is a magnificent piece of work....I enjoyed reading [Hammond's] Odyssey enormously. It is more years than I care to think since I read the work from end to end. Hammond's translation moved me to do so within a day, and that is a tribute indeed. This is a first-class work which should give pleasure to both those who read Greek and those who do not - and deserves to attract many to read Homer for whom that is as yet a pleasure in store * Dr John Moore, Conference and Common Room *