Overview
The Odyssey is the original journey tale, a genre that has lasted three thousand years, and has had a lasting influence on on literature and art. The trials of Odysseus were first told by the great bard Homer. For ten long years the Greeks and Trojans have fought on the plains of Troy, and now Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, and the other victorious Greeks are ready to sail home. But after offending the sea god, Poseidon, Odysseus is hurled into years of wandering the seas, encountering monsters and sirens, raging storms and seductive idylls, before he is able to return to his wife, his son and his homeland.
This masterpiece keeps its appeal not only because it reflects a glorious time of heroes and wonders, but because it is a work that still speaks to the lives we live today. Forge book is proud to present The Odyssey in Dr. Eickhoff's compelling and authoritative new translation.
A retelling of Homer's epic that describes the wanderings of Odysseus after the fall of Troy.
Editorials
Library Journal
Novelist and translator Eickhoff maintains an abiding interest in both the epic and the figure of Odysseus. In his novel Return to Ithaca, for instance, he uses the Homeric tradition to shape a narrative about the Vietnam War. He has also published a five-volume novelized translation of the Gaelic epic T in B Cuailgne, and with this single-volume translation he proposes to do the same thing with the Odyssey. What results, however, is more a close but highly embroidered paraphrase than a prose translation, such as that of E.V. Rieu (Penguin, 1992). Eickhoff's novelized Odyssey is both vigorous and readable, but it does not supersede the verse translations of Robert Fagles or Robert Fitzgerald. While enjoyable as a novel by Eickhoff, it is not suitable for those whose purpose is to read Homer. Eickhoff does, however, include valuable notes and appendixes. Recommended for public libraries only. T.L. Cooksey, Armstrong Atlantic State Univ., Savannah, GA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.Chris Hedges
Lombardo has brought his laconic wit and love of the ribald, as well as his clever use of idiomatic American slang, to his version of the Odyssey. His carefully honed syntax gives the narrative energy and a whirlwind pace.—The New York Times Book Review