The Odyssey

By: Homer

Narrated by: Ian McKellen

The great epic of Western literature, translated by the acclaimed classicist Robert Fagles

Soon to be a major motion picture directed by Christopher Nolan

Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, presents us with Homer's best-loved and most accessible poem in a stunning modern-verse translation. "Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy." So begins Robert Fagles' magnificent translation of the Odyssey, which Jasper Griffin in the New York Times Book Review hails as "a distinguished achievement."

If the Iliad is the world's greatest war epic, the Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of an everyman's journey through life. Odysseus' reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War is at once a timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance.

In the myths and legends retold here, Fagles has captured the energy and poetry of Homer's original in a bold, contemporary idiom, and given us an Odyssey to read aloud, to savor, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery. This is an Odyssey to delight both the classicist and the general listener, to captivate a new generation of Homer's students.

Critic reviews

“[Robert Fitzgerald’s translation is] a masterpiece . . . An Odyssey worthy of the original.” –The Nation

“[Fitzgerald’s Odyssey and Iliad] open up once more the unique greatness of Homer’s art at the level above the formula; yet at the same time they do not neglect the brilliant texture of Homeric verse at the level of the line and the phrase.” –The Yale Review

“[In] Robert Fitzgerald’s translation . . . 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, and this line-by-line vigilance builds up into a completely credible imagined world.”
–from the Introduction by Seamus Heaney

Perfect

No-one can beat Sir Ian at this kind of thing. He's probably one of the greatest performers of classical text. He doesn't just recite the verse, he speaks it. He speaks every sentence with immaculately chosen intonations that communicate meaning and emotion perfectly. I can't imagine a better reader to bring out the depth and magic of Homer.

Only a blind Greek could do it better

Any additional comments?

Sadly, I do not understand Greek so I must settle for the next best thing: this gloriously musical translation spoken by THE master of English diction. Absolutely enthralling. Gorgeous. Only Homer himself could have done it better.

Great story and performance; inconsistent playback

Sir Ian McKellen does a wonderful job working through Fagle’s translated version of Homer’s classic story. The adventures of Odysseus are brought to life in all of their grandeur. The second half is by far the most entertaining, leading to a bold and bloody climax that would make George R. R. Martin proud.

My only real complaint was the widely inconsistent playback from “chapter” to “chapter”. Obviously the Audible version was copied from previous analog tape or CD recordings that were limited in their playback length. There is a melody that plays at the end of such transitions and this doesn’t always coincide with the end of a particular book. The troublesome part about this is that when the next section plays there is a noticeable change in the volume of Sir McKellen’s voice and/or playback speed. I would have to adjust the volume on my stereo or Audible app, and occasionally adjust playback speed on the Audible app. Not a huge problem, per se, but worth noting nonetheless.

Really helped with World Lit course

If you could sum up The Odyssey in three words, what would they be?

Long, Interesting, Difficult

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Odyssey?

When Odysseus and his cronies slaughter Penelope's suitors.

What does Ian McKellen bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Ian's voice brought the characters to life. He eliminated the need to sound out words I did not recognize and made the repetitiveness of the text more bearable.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I had to because I was given two days to read it.

Great Read

Great read by Ian McKellen.

The music is very annoying between some chapters. Other than that, a great great read.