The Iliad Audiobook By Homer, Emily Wilson - translator cover art

The Iliad

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The Iliad

By: Homer, Emily Wilson - translator
Narrated by: Audra McDonald
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About this listen

2024 Audie Award Winner for Literary Fiction & Classics

When Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey appeared in 2017―rendering the ancient poem in contemporary language that was “fresh, unpretentious and lean” (Madeline Miller, Washington Post)―critics lauded it as “a revelation” (Susan Chira, New York Times) and “a cultural landmark” (Charlotte Higgins, Guardian) that would forever change how Homer is read in English. Now Wilson has returned with an equally revelatory translation of Homer’s other great epic―the most revered war poem of all time.

Brought to life in vivid audio form, this crisp verse translation of The Iliad roars with the clamor of arms, the bellowing boasts of victors, the fury and grief of loss, and the anguished cries of dying men. It sings, too, of the sublime magnitude of the world―the fierce beauty of nature and deities’ grand schemes beyond the ken of mortals.

Wilson’s musical iambic pentameter verse is brought to life in the evocative voice of narrator and Broadway legend Audra McDonald. In her thrilling reading, this magical and often horrifying tale gallops at a pace befitting its legendary battle scenes. The culmination of a decade of intense engagement with antiquity’s most surpassingly beautiful and emotionally complex poetry, Wilson’s Iliad now gives us a complete Homer for our generation.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Emily Wilson (Translation) (P)2023 Audible, Inc.
Ancient, Classical & Medieval Literature Epic Poetry Themes & Styles
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About the Creator

The Iliad the Odyssey were not invented from scratch by any individual. These great written poems make artful use of a long oral tradition, developed over centuries by many illiterate singer-songwriters. The two epics were composed perhaps in the seventh century BC, by one person or several people, about whom we know nothing. Whoever she, he, or they were, Homer was the most popular poet of antiquity, known simply as The Poet. These metrical, musical, dramatic, thrilling, fast-moving, multi-vocal poems were often performed orally by professional poetry-actors (rhapsodes), and were well-known to everybody in the ancient world: old, young, female, male, rich, poor, educated, illiterate, slave, and free.—Emily Wilson

About the Translator

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 in Renaissance and early modern scholarship, a MacArthur Fellow, and a Guggenheim Fellow. In addition to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, she has also published translations of Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca. She lives in Philadelphia.

About the Creator- Audra McDonald

About the Performer

Audra McDonald is unparalleled in the breadth and versatility of her artistry as both a singer and an actor. The winner of a record-breaking six Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, and an Emmy, in 2015 she received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people. She won Tonys for her performances in Carousel, Master Class, Ragtime, A Raisin in the Sun, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, which also served as the vehicle for her Olivier-nominated 2017 West End debut. On television, McDonald won an Emmy as the official host of PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center and is known for recurring roles on Private Practice (ABC), The Good Wife (CBS), The Good Fight (Paramount+), and The Gilded Age (HBO). Her film credits include Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast and MGM’s 2021 Aretha Franklin biopic, Respect. A Juilliard-trained soprano, McDonald maintains a major career as a Grammy-winning recording and concert artist. Her latest solo album, Sing Happy, was recorded live with the New York Philharmonic for Decca Gold. She is a founding member of Black Theatre United, a board member of Covenant House International, and a prominent advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights whose favorite roles are those performed offstage, as an activist, wife to actor Will Swenson, and mother.

Accessible Translation • Poetic Language • Stellar Narration • Vivid Imagery • Emotional Depth • Timeless Relevance
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Emily Wilson’s narrative is contemporary and heroic art, delivering both empathy and horror at the same time. The story moves with an inexorable momentum. McDonald is spectacular in conveying the gore and agony of battle while also varying her tone to inhabit the characters of myriad gods and heroes. I have read the Iliad in other translations, but this is the first time I have so viscerally felt the brutality, humanity, and the spectacle of this ever-relevant epic poem. Many thanks to Audible for taking on this project

The careful and incredibly nuanced “voices” of Audra McDonald

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Wilson’s Iliad flows, is clear, crisp, and unafraid to move from elegant to colloquial registers, and back again, as Homer does. She is also honest enough to see both the horror and the hope. Excellent translation, excellently read.

Superb

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The narration is fantastic and the story is a classic. I hope the narrator translate Virgil.

A great story, beautiful translation

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Jumped right out at you as if you were seeing it. Awesome imagery and language.

The battles…

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Absolutely excellent. I have no complaints. Emily Wilson is a goddess and Audra McDonald does a beautiful narration.

Best translation. Best narration.

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I enjoy the Iliad and the Odyssey. I read them both every few years. It is interesting to listen to a new translation. Emily Wilson gives a great introductory explanation of the themes and some of the choices in her translation that I really enjoyed, until I didn't, it went on for a very long time. The story itself is extremely well told, I don't think I've ever listened to the Iliad read by a woman. I believe this is an oral history that should be told by many different voices and Audra McDonald did not disappoint. I thought the author and narrator kept the flow of the story without the occasional long lists and repetitive sacrifices and adjective phrases breaking things up. I have a couple of the Iliad audible books and this is the one I would recommend.

Well Narrated

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Audra brings to life Emily Wilson's fantastic and skillful translation of Homer's epic tale. Absolutely amazing.

Audra McDonald's Narration is Brilliant!

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This version of the Iliad has been by far my favorite, and the performance of the poetically metered translation was also just amazing.

Phenomenal Translation

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Fantastic translation. Fantastic performance. Enjoyed this immensely. if you have ever been intimidated by this poem,give this a try.

Well Done!

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Every single minute was worth the listen (read). Thankful tbat Emily Wilson took the time to translate this epic story for the world. To Audra McDonald, your narration was riveting!!

The attention to detail

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