The Odyssey: A Norton Critical Edition - Softcover

Homer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393655067 ISBN 13: 9780393655063

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2020

Synopsis

“A revelation. Never have I been so aware at once of the beauty of the poetry, the physicality of Homer’s world, and the moral ambiguity of those who inhabit it.” ―SUSAN CHIRA, New York Times Book Review, “New & Noteworthy”

“‘Each generation must translate for itself,’ T. S. Eliot declared. Emily Wilson has convincingly answered this call: hers is a vital Odyssey for the twenty-first century that brings into rhythmic English the power, dignity, variety, and immediacy of this great poem.” ―LAURA SLATKIN, New York University

This Norton Critical Edition includes: 

• Emily Wilson’s authoritative translation of Homer’s masterpiece, accompanied by her informative introduction, explanatory footnotes, and book-by-book summaries.
• Four maps, created especially for this translation.
• Contextual materials including sources and analogues by Homer, Sappho, Pindar, and others. Also included are carefully chosen passages from (mainly) ancient texts that provide insight into The Odyssey and its reception by Plato, Aristotle, Ovid, Pseudo-Longinus, Lucian, Apollodorus, Heraclitus, Porphyry, Proclus, Hyginus, Dante Alighieri, Alfred Lord Tennyson, C. P. Cavafy, Derek Walcott, and Margaret Atwood.
• Five critical essays addressing key topics―composition; representation of religion and the gods; class and slavery; gender; and more― essential to the study of The Odyssey. Essays by Laurel Fulkerson, Laura M. Slatkin, Patrice Rankine, Helene P. Foley, and Egbert J. Bakker, are included.
• A glossary and a list of suggested further readings.
  

 

About the Series
Read by more than 12 million students over fifty-five years, Norton Critical Editions set the standard for apparatus that is right for undergraduate readers. The three-part format―annotated text, contexts, and criticism―helps students to better understand, analyze, and appreciate the literature, while opening a wide range of teaching possibilities for instructors. Whether in print or in digital format, Norton Critical Editions provide all the resources students need.

About this title

About the Authors

HOMER’s identity is shrouded in mystery. Most scholars agree that an epic poet named Homer likely existed anywhere between 900 to 700 B.C.E. Legend, originating in antiquity, says that Homer was a blind bard from Ionia, but no account of Homer’s life can be verified. The Iliad and The Odyssey, the two epic poems attributed to Homer, which take place during the Trojan War and its aftermath, were derived from the oral storytelling tradition. Their method of composition―either by a single author or several bards working in tandem―remains unknown. The Homeric Poems are among the most significant narratives in the Greek and Western literary canon.

Emily Wilson is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been named a fellow of the American Academy in Rome, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a MacArthur Fellow. In addition to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, she has also published translations of Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca. She lives in Philadelphia.

Edition details

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393655067
• ISBN 13: 9780393655063
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512