---
product_id: 1695042
title: "The Odyssey (Penguin Classics)"
price: "S/.124"
currency: PEN
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.pe/products/1695042-the-odyssey-penguin-classics
store_origin: PE
region: Peru
---

# The Odyssey (Penguin Classics)

**Price:** S/.124
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- **What is this?** The Odyssey (Penguin Classics)
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## Description

desertcart.com: The Odyssey (Penguin Classics): 9780143039952: Homer, Knox, Bernard, Fagles, Robert, Knox, Bernard: Books

Review: Students, fans, buy THIS version for your Kindle. - I first read the Odyssey almost 50 years ago as a freshman in college. Back then, I struggled so much reading and understanding the text I don't think I grasped any of the larger issues the instructor was trying to teach. This edition, masterfully translated by Robert Fagles, was truly a pleasure to read. I found myself reading many passages (and even long sections) out loud and really felt I was hearing something like a performance with oral cadences and lively movement. And this time I was totally caught up in the dramatic unfolding of events. Don't be mislead by TV, movie and graphic novel versions of this classic story. Odysseus is not an ancient version of Mad Max careening from one bloody encounter to another. In fact the reader does not even meet Odysseus until Book Five, almost one-fourth of the way through the book. All of the famous exploits are told as a series of long "flashbacks." Odysseus actually reaches his home island of Ithaca in the middle of Book Thirteen. So almost one-half of the book is not Odysseus' seafaring adventures but his coping with his complex homecoming situation and subsequent plotting and maneuvering. So put the cartoon versions out of your mind and settle in for a story of high drama and suspense full of well-crafted characters including perceptive portraits of the women Odysseus encounters. Kindle readers will really appreciate that this Kindle edition is a complete duplicate of the print edition. It contains the extensive introduction by Bernard Knox. And, in a Kindle bonus, the authoritative line notes are "hyper-linked" in the text; just click on the underlined line number to jump to that line's note. And, yes, it does have relatively unobtrusive line numbering so you can use this version in a class where everyone else has the print edition. (I just did!) You get all the maps, genealogies, textual variants, and spelling and pronunciation guides of the print edition. And, I encountered no typos, transcribing errors or blunders in the text. This Kindle edition is a respectable version of the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition of one of the greatest stories ever told and well worth the moderate price.
Review: The Journey Of Odysseus Plays Out On The Mediterranean Chessboard Where Gods And Goddesses Are The Opponents-Powerful Reading! - Reviewing and rating The Iliad and The Odyssey, both being among the oldest existing written works from Europe, and which continue to hold influence on Western literature, makes it almost unfair to judge with a contemporary mindset. The embraced ideologies, i.e. philosophies, religions, principles, and aesthetics that have influenced any given literary period, including any accepted or required structures or styles for a story, have evolved over thousands of years. Estimates indicate these two epics were written sometime between 1200 BC and 850 BC. Many contemporary readers will simply dismiss The Iliad or The Odyssey after reading only a few lines, finding them too complicated or confusing to embark upon. The differentiation of mortals from gods and goddesses is not immediately made clear in some translations—just names given. Redundant descriptions like “winged fowls” or a reference to Hades, Zeus, Calypso or a Muse can quickly lose the interest of an average contemporary reader. The repetition of words and phrases, where the author or authors (Homeric question considered) tried to duplicate the telling of these epics as they were originally sung by bards hundreds of years before into written epics, can also be off-putting, especially among the many translated interpretations over the years. How I might have rated either of these two epics had I lived and read them when they were first written is impossible to say. Having read a 20th century English translation of them within the current literary period of the 21st century, I give five stars without hesitation. After a little research, I chose Robert Fagles’ translation written in unrhymed iambic pentameter or blank verse, a style originating in the 16th century, for the best balance of accuracy and readability. I didn’t care for the popular translations by Alexander Pope, who translated both epics into heroic couplets—a form of rhyming poetry that came about in the 17th century—eloquent as they may be written. Richmond Lattimore’s translations are perhaps the most accurate English translations, attempting to maintain the dactylic hexameter in which the original epics were written. Homer’s epics were simply his written retelling of stories that minstrel poets had been singing for centuries before his time. I suppose translators are simply doing the same thing in their own writing style. When you hear someone detail an event that took place and then hear the same event recounted by someone else, one person’s version may appeal to you more than the other, right? In any case, The Odyssey was my favorite between the two, though both were exciting—sometimes emotional—great stories.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #25,269 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #25 in Ancient & Classical Poetry #48 in Epic Poetry (Books) #861 in Classic Literature & Fiction |
| Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,063 Reviews |

## Images

![The Odyssey (Penguin Classics) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81-ghHO6JyL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Students, fans, buy THIS version for your Kindle.
*by T***N on December 21, 2011*

I first read the Odyssey almost 50 years ago as a freshman in college. Back then, I struggled so much reading and understanding the text I don't think I grasped any of the larger issues the instructor was trying to teach. This edition, masterfully translated by Robert Fagles, was truly a pleasure to read. I found myself reading many passages (and even long sections) out loud and really felt I was hearing something like a performance with oral cadences and lively movement. And this time I was totally caught up in the dramatic unfolding of events. Don't be mislead by TV, movie and graphic novel versions of this classic story. Odysseus is not an ancient version of Mad Max careening from one bloody encounter to another. In fact the reader does not even meet Odysseus until Book Five, almost one-fourth of the way through the book. All of the famous exploits are told as a series of long "flashbacks." Odysseus actually reaches his home island of Ithaca in the middle of Book Thirteen. So almost one-half of the book is not Odysseus' seafaring adventures but his coping with his complex homecoming situation and subsequent plotting and maneuvering. So put the cartoon versions out of your mind and settle in for a story of high drama and suspense full of well-crafted characters including perceptive portraits of the women Odysseus encounters. Kindle readers will really appreciate that this Kindle edition is a complete duplicate of the print edition. It contains the extensive introduction by Bernard Knox. And, in a Kindle bonus, the authoritative line notes are "hyper-linked" in the text; just click on the underlined line number to jump to that line's note. And, yes, it does have relatively unobtrusive line numbering so you can use this version in a class where everyone else has the print edition. (I just did!) You get all the maps, genealogies, textual variants, and spelling and pronunciation guides of the print edition. And, I encountered no typos, transcribing errors or blunders in the text. This Kindle edition is a respectable version of the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition of one of the greatest stories ever told and well worth the moderate price.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Journey Of Odysseus Plays Out On The Mediterranean Chessboard Where Gods And Goddesses Are The Opponents-Powerful Reading!
*by S***S on January 1, 2015*

Reviewing and rating The Iliad and The Odyssey, both being among the oldest existing written works from Europe, and which continue to hold influence on Western literature, makes it almost unfair to judge with a contemporary mindset. The embraced ideologies, i.e. philosophies, religions, principles, and aesthetics that have influenced any given literary period, including any accepted or required structures or styles for a story, have evolved over thousands of years. Estimates indicate these two epics were written sometime between 1200 BC and 850 BC. Many contemporary readers will simply dismiss The Iliad or The Odyssey after reading only a few lines, finding them too complicated or confusing to embark upon. The differentiation of mortals from gods and goddesses is not immediately made clear in some translations—just names given. Redundant descriptions like “winged fowls” or a reference to Hades, Zeus, Calypso or a Muse can quickly lose the interest of an average contemporary reader. The repetition of words and phrases, where the author or authors (Homeric question considered) tried to duplicate the telling of these epics as they were originally sung by bards hundreds of years before into written epics, can also be off-putting, especially among the many translated interpretations over the years. How I might have rated either of these two epics had I lived and read them when they were first written is impossible to say. Having read a 20th century English translation of them within the current literary period of the 21st century, I give five stars without hesitation. After a little research, I chose Robert Fagles’ translation written in unrhymed iambic pentameter or blank verse, a style originating in the 16th century, for the best balance of accuracy and readability. I didn’t care for the popular translations by Alexander Pope, who translated both epics into heroic couplets—a form of rhyming poetry that came about in the 17th century—eloquent as they may be written. Richmond Lattimore’s translations are perhaps the most accurate English translations, attempting to maintain the dactylic hexameter in which the original epics were written. Homer’s epics were simply his written retelling of stories that minstrel poets had been singing for centuries before his time. I suppose translators are simply doing the same thing in their own writing style. When you hear someone detail an event that took place and then hear the same event recounted by someone else, one person’s version may appeal to you more than the other, right? In any case, The Odyssey was my favorite between the two, though both were exciting—sometimes emotional—great stories.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great translation. Probably best.
*by M***K on December 5, 2011*

I had to read this for my Language Arts class, and this version was recommended by our teacher. I've read some reviews talking about its accuracy, but I'm not an expert on Homer's writings, so I wouldn't know too much about that. Let me start off by saying that this book shipped very quickly, despite the fact that I chose standard shipping (5-8 days). It shipped in two. Also, this book is light and compact, so it's easy to carry around if you plan on bringing it someplace with you. The only complaint about this I have is that I like to keep my book in pristine condition, and the cover and pages are very thin. There is another version with the exact same translation but with thicker pages and a more rigid cover, which I would have got if I knew there was one. It's all based on preference, though. Now on to the book. I am usually terrible at reading, but I will say this translation makes it easy and even pleasurable to read the story of Odysseus. Fagles does a superb job of translating the story into modern English so that it can be read with ease. Although it is a translation, it still keeps the structure of the Greek original, using a consistent meter. Fagles also adds other poetic elements such as alliteration to make reading this book more interesting and enjoyable. All in all, if you need the Odyssey for a class, or you are just an avid reader hoping to find a readable translation of the Odyssey, this is for you. Translated so poetically and with vocabulary that in understandable, this is probably one of the best translations of the Odyssey you can get. (I still would recommend getting the harder paperback version though.)

## Frequently Bought Together

- The Odyssey (Penguin Classics)
- The Iliad (Penguin Classics)
- The Aeneid (Penguin Classics)

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*Store origin: PE*
*Last updated: 2026-05-16*