The Iliad (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) | 
| Author: Homer
Creators: Bernard Knox, Robert Fagles
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  135 reviews
Sales Rank: 3199
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 704
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.9
ISBN: 0140275363
Dewey Decimal Number: 883.01
EAN: 9780140275360
ASIN: 0140275363
Publication Date: November 1, 1998
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Condition: OLDER EDITION! If you just want to read the book and save your money, buy this copy! American owned and operated.
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Amazon.com
This groundbreaking English version by Robert Fagles is the most important recent translation of Homer's great epic poem. The verse translation has been hailed by scholars as the new standard, providing an Iliad that delights modern sensibility and aesthetic without sacrificing the grandeur and particular genius of Homer's own style and language. The Iliad is one of the two great epics of Homer, and is typically described as one of the greatest war stories of all time, but to say the Iliad is a war story does not begin to describe the emotional sweep of its action and characters: Achilles, Helen, Hector, and other heroes of Greek myth and history in the tenth and final year of the Greek siege of Troy.
Product Description
This timeless poem-more than 2,700 year old-still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amid devastation and destruction as it moves inexorably to its wrenching, tragic conclusion. Readers of this epic poem will be gripped by the finely tuned translation and enlightening introduction.
Translated by Robert Fagles
Introduction and Notes by Bernard
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| Customer Reviews: Read 130 more reviews...
 Readable, quasi-poetic, inaccurate July 22, 2008
I just finished an extension course on The Iliad, and had the luxury of picking whatever translation I desired. I tried many, including Fagles, and a bit of the Greek original, and came to this conclusion:
Don't be misled by poetic or quasi-poetic translations. These can never do justice to a language incompatible with English, and miss the concision and power of Homer. If you want poetry, read Christopher Logue's reimagining of the epic in his several books.
Instead, get the best literal translation. For me right now, that's Hammond. Fagles tries to combine both worlds, and is unsatisfactory in either. I must admit, the packaging is handsome, but Fagles takes too many liberties with the text. For instance, when the text is repeated in Greek, it should be repeated in English, but Fagles doesn't do this.
At least Fagles is readable, unlike Lattimore, whose English does not trip happily on the tongue much of the time.
 A defense of Fagles for the general reader June 7, 2008
I don't normally write reviews for "the classics": what can I say that hasn't already been said more elegantly and succinctly by hundreds and thousands already? So, regarding the book itself I will say simply that this story clearly has earned the title of "classic" and will surprise newcomers (or readers like myself who have gained a newfound appreciation for works like this upon adulthood!) with its passion, nobility, and universality even now--thousands of years after it was first crafted. Also, as others have noted, this version is graced with an extensive introduction, maps, notes, and other supplementary materials which aid the ease of reading and fully appreciating the text.
Instead, I will focus on the translation itself, which I believe has been the target of well-meant but generally unearned criticism. I will preface this by saying that I am not versed in ancient Greek, and while I have perused several translations of the Iliad, Fagles' is the only one I have read in its entirety. However, as someone who has done translations in the past, I can sympathize with the task of Fagles and others like him as they attempt to craft a translation that is both faithful to the original yet maximizes clarity and readability for an audience that is thousands of years and many layers of language and culture removed from Homer's Greeks.
I would like to praise Fagles for his ability to satisfy both demands without needing to make very many sacrifices or compromises. Critics of Fagels' translation of the Iliad and the Odyssey like to point to Fagels' treatment of epithets as an example of why it is not "accurate", "literal", or "scholarly". That is, in Homer's original, it was common to repeat the same epithet as a matter of convention. A reviewer of the Odyssey notes that the phrase "resourceful Odysseus" is repeated 68 times in the tale, and notes that Fagles has rendered this phrase in "48 different translations, only 12 of which have the form Adjective+Odysseus". This comment was intended as a criticism, but to me it shows the genius of Fagles' translation: he has managed to take a convention that would be conspicuous, awkward, and repetitive in English and carefully re-crafted it in a way that retains the idea and information of the original Greek. Ultimately, which translation style one prefers is a matter of individual preference ... but it does not speak to the quality of the translation itself.
In the end, the success of every translation is measured in reader response, and I believe the generally positive reaction speaks to its lyricism, accuracy, and overall ability to engage a modern audience. For the person fluent in ancient Greek, perhaps this is not the translation for you (although, if you're fluent in ancient Greek, why bother with translations?). For those of us who are more interested in the Iliad as a classic in world literature, I believe this translation is the version for you. You are not being cheated out of the "real deal" just because Fagles was as interested in translating the Iliad as a story of cohesive ideas as in translating it as a text of individual words. Don't believe those who will tell you that somehow this is a watered down "Iliad Lite" for the illiterate masses: ultimately the differences of opinion being expressed here are more of style than of substance.
Iliad and Odyssey May 27, 2008
Great translation by Robert Fagles, I'd recommend the matching Penguin Deluxe Edition of the Odyssey also translated by Fagles.
 One of our first war novels April 15, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I used the W. H. D. Rouse translation.
One of our first war novels: the Achains and their allies send a great multitude of ships laden with armored warriors carrying bows, spears, and swords; divisions of horse drawn chariots rumble there way into the ranks of the Trojans and their allies laying siege to Troy. The Trojans counter-attack with a push all the way to the ships. And as we read, these gains and losses continue throughout the story. There is a short truce to mourn the dead and recoup, then the battle rages on only in our minds.
It flows like a song. Lucid, with wonderful imagery and symbolism's. Homer, with Rouses' help, bring out the details of battle and personalize each warrior: we learn he has a wife, a family, and a life elsewhere, after he has been cut in two and stripped of his armor. Men are slaughtered with an indifference, as if they were mere cattle. I found it hard to follow the extensive list of characters. I believe some of the realism was lost to modernization. I also found the knowledge Homer had of the human anatomy surprising. The footnotes were helpful. Better than Odyssey.
It is interesting to note: the gods control man, and man controls the gods. The two interact with each other; the gods send down their wrath and protections upon their favored nation. The gods are no different than the humans they try to control, except for their immortality. Hades is where all mortals go unto death. The parallels to the Bible are evident, with connotations of God. It can be hard to grasp.......a story that is 2,700 years old.
Wish you well
Scott
Homer Would Like it; Alexander would, too, and You March 20, 2008
This is a very entertaining version of a work which is apt to task the patience of some readers or listeners. The "Iliad" was orally conceived as a kind of ritual recital of a well-known story, and it contains long passages of enumeration, such as the famous (or infamous) catalogue of ships, telling the names of all the heroes embarked for Ilium (Troy), but, alas, containing little of the drama found in the rest of the poem which today's reader is looking for. So, what do you do? Skip those parts and summarize them elsewhere, which is exactly what this production wisely does. You don't want to put to sleep anyone who's listening in his car on the drive home. It's just not good business. Derek Jacobi is an excellent, companionable reader with a great voice for presenting Robert Fagles' award winning new translation with its swift narration and sharp eye for the details which make this story of heartbreaking greatness come fully alive for our drivetime friend as well as for any reader of the print version. The booklet by Bernard Knox is particularly fine, providing the background of the poem and its new translation. This is a book for men. Let's face it; not many ladies would like it, but the poem inhabits a world which exists both in the mind of the great poet (who composed it about a hundred years after it was supposed to have happened) and in the mind of any boy or man (or woman) who likes a great and timeless tale of "feats of brawl" and of the friendship and admiration between friends and between enemies.
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