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

The Odyssey

Audible Iliad & Odyssey, Book 2

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The Odyssey

By: Homer, Emily Wilson - translator
Narrated by: Claire Danes
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About this listen

Acclaimed actress Claire Danes burnishes an epic story of heroes, gods, and monsters in a groundbreaking translation of The Odyssey, the first great adventure story in the Western literary tradition. When the wily warrior-king Odysseus sets off for home after the Trojan War, he doesn’t realize this simple undertaking will become a perilous journey of 10 years. Beset at every turn, he encounters obstacles, detours, and temptations—both supernatural and human—while his wife Penelope fends off would-be suitors desperate to take the throne.

Emily Wilson is the first woman to take on the daunting task of translating over 100,000 lines of a three-millennium-old poem from Ancient Greek to modern-day English. Her breathtaking rendition captures the poetic immediacy of the original text, while allowing listeners to experience The Odyssey with an honesty and directness few other versions have achieved. The result is a lean, fleet-footed translation that recaptures Homer’s “nimble gallop” and brings an ancient epic to new life. A fascinating introduction provides an informative overview of the Bronze Age milieu that produced the epic, the major themes of the poem, the controversies about its origins, and the unparalleled scope of its impact and influence.

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

©2018 Emily Wilson (translation), Adrian Kitzinger (maps copyright) (P)2018 Audible, Inc.
Ancient, Classical & Medieval Literature Classics Collections Poetry Suspenseful Inspiring

Go Behind the Scenes with Claire Danes

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Our favorite moments from The Odyssey

The suitors reveal Penelope’s ruse
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Odysseus begs the cyclops Polyphemus for mercy
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The enchantress Circe tries to bewitch Odysseus
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  • The Odyssey
  • The suitors reveal Penelope’s ruse
  • The Odyssey
  • Odysseus begs the cyclops Polyphemus for mercy
  • The Odyssey
  • The enchantress Circe tries to bewitch Odysseus
Claire Danes

About the Performer

Claire Danes is an Audie and Emmy Award-winning actress and star of the TV series Homeland, the 2010 HBO movie Temple Grandin, and much more. In 2013, Danes received the Audie Award for best spoken-word performance in Fiction. Danes is also the recipient of four Golden Globes and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Homer

About the Author

The Iliad and 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

Emily Wilson

About the Translator

Emily Wilson is a professor of classical studies and chair of the program in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory at the University of Pennsylvania. She received a BA in Classics and an MPhil. in English Renaissance Literature from Oxford, and earned her PhD. from Yale in Classics and Comparative Literature. Wilson is the author of three books, and has translated works by Seneca and Euripides. Her acclaimed line-for-line verse translation of The Odyssey, in regular iambic pentameter, aims to capture the poetic magic and rich, complex characterization of the original poem. Wilson has been reading Homer in Greek for over thirty years, and was first exposed to the story of The Odyssey at the age of eight, when she appeared as Athena in her elementary school play.

Accessible Translation • Captivating Adventure • Passionate Narration • Complex Hero • Timeless Epic • Poetic Language
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it was very comfortable and pleasurable listening to this audiobook. I liked the colloquial modern English.

excellent translation, warm narration

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For the most part the choice to stick with a more modern and colloquial language works well. In certain passages the story flows beautifully. There are a few places where the modern constraint makes the story stumble just a little, but certainly not enough to detract from the wonderful achievement of this translation.

Note that there are about three hours worth of authors notes before the story itself begins. I found them worthwhile to listen to, but some may not.

Modernised successfully

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I love the odyssey, and really enjoyed this translation. Unfortunately, the narrator’s monotone really slowed down the plot and killed the excitement of this epic. I couldn’t help but notice the odd way she pronounces “s” sounds and it was all I could hear.

Highly enjoyable, but lacking

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What a great difference the narration makes between the Iliad and the Odyssey productions. In the former you feel as if you were in a party with some bard reciting with a lyre, following tbe metric. While in this one it feels read by a boted high school nerd teenager.

Good Translation, monotonous performance.

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You must listen to the translators note first she explains in detail how she chose to translate the original poem. With that understanding I have not heard nor read the poem with better explanation. Truly a great listen, I started the book at work yesterday shut it off when I feel asleep and finished first thing in the morning.

The best I’ve heard or read so far!

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A great interpretation of a classic tale. I always loved when dawn appeared with rosey fingers.

Anthony

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loved it . Claire Danes is great. I had forgotten much of the story since reading it in highschool. The language in this translation made it much better to listen to.

awesome modern translation great reading.

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I enjoyed the thorough introduction. It gave the audience a chance to get to know the translator and take a few of her ideas through the read. The narrator was clear and enjoyable to listen to.

Very enjoyable translation and Narrator

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It's great to have a more contemporary version of this epic available today. Hopefully through it more young people will be introduced to this ancient classic. Scholars may grimace or chuckle at the choice of some words, but nothing is really lost in the retelling of the story. It just has a slightly different flavor.

Well Done Contemporary Translation of the Odyssey

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I was surprised to enjoy this since it was assigned reading for a class. The story is good, the performance is well done, and it’s easy to follow. Overall I would say it is very entertaining!

Awesome and would recommend

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