Best Ancient & Classical Literary Criticism
In celebration of of the 75th anniversary of this classic bestseller, this stunningly illustrated, beautifully packaged, larger-format hardcover edition will be beloved by fans of Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology of all ages. She regarded as the high point of her life a 1957 ceremony in which King Paul of Greece named her an honorary citizen of Athens.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I got this for my son to go along with his Percy Jackson books."
"It's a classic for good reason."
"Exactly what my daughter needed for her class."
"Required for freshman English class."
"This book gives you details about the gods that you didn't know you wanted to know!"
"Edith Hamilton's classic."
"Needed this For my English IS class and it provided spot on and flawless information over Greek mythology down to the core."
"books are great (and we ha to have it for school)."
But through the sometimes uncomfortable months that the two men explore Homer's great work together--first in the classroom, where Jay persistently challenges his son's interpretations, and then during a surprise-filled Mediterranean journey retracing Odysseus's famous voyages--it becomes clear that Daniel has much to learn, too: Jay's responses to both the text and the travels gradually uncover long-buried secrets that allow the son to understand his difficult father at last. Mendelsohn weaves his basket with many wands; the complexity seems natural, an account of the quality of life itself, a route to revelation. The book partakes of at least four genres: classroom drama; travel writing; biographical memoir; literary criticism. Mendelsohn makes Homer’s epic shine in your mind.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times “My favorite classicist once again combines meticulous literary investigation with warm and wrenching human emotion—books like these are why I love reading.” —Lee Child “Poignant, tender, affecting. “When Daniel Mendelsohn’s mathematician father lands in his son’s Homer seminar at Bard, the older man sets in motion an odyssey both hilarious and heartfelt. Father and son start in the pages of an epic, board a ship to follow the hero’s path through the Mediterranean, and finally end where all our stories do. Dread of the alien thrums through [Homer’s] Odyssey ; for Mendelsohn, the ancient tale becomes an occasion not only to explore his relationship with his father, but to transform it. The recognition leaves Mendelsohn free to see through his father’s hardness—his ‘exacting standards for everything’—to the vulnerable fighter within: a scrappy, strategizing Odysseus from the Bronx. What solace or despair resides in the unexpected relevance of this ancient poem, its encounters with Otherness thrown into high relief by the xenophobia of our time? [But] it dives deeper, excavating a portrait of Mendelsohn’s special student, his father: his lonely childhood, his early brilliance, his forfeiture of Latin for a life of numbers. There is but one ending to the book; within a year, Jay would die, and so Mendelsohn’s journey—indeed like Homer’s—would be undertaken after the fact, when something remained to be learned. In An Odyssey, he reels us in with a storyteller’s strongest gifts: passion, clarity, and timing.” —Willard Spiegelman, Wall Street Journal. Mendelsohn’s exploration is [both] a personal family memoir and a critical report on Homer’s epic, and the two facets illuminate each other. The Mediterranean cruise that father and son take pays off in surprising ways; we get a haunting glimpse of the fear that the end of your journey means finis , the hope residual in permanent postponement. This is an honest, and loving, account of the improbable odyssey that gave them this one last deeply satisfying adventure together.” —Peter Green, The New York Review of Books “Heartfelt, touching . The course, and the cruise retracing Odyssey’s voyage to Ithaca a few months later, set in motion an emotional journey neither man could have anticipated. Mendelsohn expertly examines the Odyssey with depth and classical acumen, extracting meaning from even its most subtle moments. He details his own relationship with the ancient poem, and he culls from the narrative many insights into his own familial bonds, specifically with his father. a surprising piece of art—a masterful memoir of reading, teaching and learning; a book as full of twists and turns as its subject, often beautiful too. This is a story of reconciling a scientist and an artist; Jay, the man of calculus, comes to influence both his son and his fellow pupils. As well as a contribution to the art of memoir, An Odyssey is a vivid defence of the close rereading of a classical text, the tiny questions from which bigger pictures become clear.” —Peter Stothard, The Financial Times ★ “Enlightening—engaging, gripping and deeply moving . Mendelsohn explores the enduring relevance of Homer’s Odyssey through a memoir tracing the complex relationship between father and son.” —Library Journal (starred review) “Beguiling. in this memoir, Mendelsohn recounts a freshman class on the Odyssey he taught at Bard College with his father, an 81-year-old computer scientist, sitting in. … Mendelsohn gradually unwraps layers of timeless meaning in the ancient Greek poem; Homeric heroes offer resonant psychological parallels to a modern family. His father, a retired mathematician, had been interested in the classics during his school days and decided to continue his education by studying with his son . The author uses a close reading of the epic to illuminate the mysteries of the human condition; he skillfully, subtly interweaves textual analysis [with] the lessons of life outside it . At the book’s center is [Mendelsohn’s father] Jay, whose presence in the classroom bewilders and charms the other students and his son . With this graceful and searching memoir, we all drink from the cup of knowledge proffered by one of our leading philosopher-writers.” —Hamilton Cain, Star Tribune. A meditation on filial love as candid, tender and in its own way ruthless as its counterparts in the Bible, Shakespeare and Homer . both dense and fleet, and wholly captivating.” —Tim Pfaff, The Bay Area Reporter “It’s hard to pierce a legend, even when it’s just generation-old family lore . As author-professor, Mendelsohn doesn’t lecture; his storytelling leaves room for other teachers — including his current students, his former professors and relatives who decode multi-layered family myths. Classroom discussions of Odysseus’ long, wandering journey home to Ithaca led father and son to undertake a real-life Mediterranean cruise retracing the Greek warrior’s travels. Mendelsohn begins to see his father in a new light even while the older man challenges the basic tenets of Homer’s epic. A noted memoirist and venerable contributor to a myriad of respected periodicals, Daniel Mendelsohn doesn’t hold back. An Odyssey carefully unpacks details from Homer’s epic poem, with the author taking the stance of a vigilant observer. Witnessing his father’s guileless rediscovery of the ancient text, Mendelsohn’s life’s work as a classicist is turned on its head. The revelations and thoughts of the central characters of Homer’s Odyssey serve as portals to deeper understanding of contemporary relationships. Studying (and essentially mirroring) Homer’s legendary work allowed both the Mendelsohn father and son to find new dimensions for their love of one another. While the events of An Odyssey conclude with Jay passing away, the vibrant stamp he left behind on his son is evidenced by the profundity of the memoir’s pages. It’s an epic reconciliation, albeit a quiet one, focused on all that he’d been given by his father, celebrating their mutual love and respect.” —Michael Raver, The Huffington Post “Family memoirs are often chronicles of estrangement and rapprochement, typically seeking to wring meaning from the haze of grief or regret. As the memoir unspools, Mendelsohn’s narrative grip tightens, and the son’s search for his father becomes poignant and powerful.” —Julia M. Klein, The Forward “Compelling . As I read Mendelsohn’s wonderfully precise textual analysis of Homer, I couldn’t help but think how similar his interpretative method is to the ways in which Biblical scholars parse the Torah for deeper understanding. Through Homer, Mendelsohn has created a memorial his father: an extraordinary act of filial love.” —Helen Morales, Times Literary Supplement (UK). In this insightful, tender book, Mendelsohn gracefully marries literary criticism and memoir to describe an intellectual and personal journey that becomes one of profound discovery for both [father and son]. Most impressive are his transitions from scholarly consideration of ‘The Odyssey’ to intimate stories of his family life, as when the class discussion flows effortlessly into a magical moment, witnessing [his father] Jay as he offers a heartbreakingly beautiful tribute to his wife… [There are] many wise lessons to be gleaned from this lovely book.” —Harvey Freedenberg, BookPage. Mendelsohn has achieved an enviable renown as essayist, literary critic and author of autobiographical explorations undergirded by insights from classic texts. It’s clear that Mendelsohn’s Socratic method of teaching (via dialogue rather than lecture) forces everyone, including himself, to see things with fresh eyes. Every step of the way, An Odyssey charts a remarkable journey made indelible by Mendelsohn’s elegant prose. Mendelsohn is perhaps the most accessible contemporary ambassador of the classics; An Odyssey makes his most convincing case to date for their vital necessity. Mendelsohn takes us through the Odyssey alongside his class, meanwhile drawing comparisons between his and his father’s journeys, and those of Odysseus and Telemachus. Mendelsohn has honed a method of mixing memoir and criticism to reflect on the problems of contemporary life through the lens of the Greek classics. An Odyssey is a stellar contribution to the genre of memoirs about reading—literary analysis and the personal stories are woven together in a way that feels both artful and natural. “A marvellously entertaining and wise chronicle of [Mendelsohn’s and his father’s] odyssey, first in the classroom and then on a tour of the seas around Greece. This is powerfully true of this moving new odyssey as well.” —Alberto Manguel, Literary Review (UK) “A gentle, at times almost nostalgic, work: Mendelsohn’s lithe prose flits seamlessly across intervals and registers, switching from erudite exposition one minute to emotion-filled reminiscence the next. An accomplished, brave book that testifies to what is perhaps the Odyssey ’s most abiding message: that intelligence has little value if it isn’t allied to love.” —William Skidelsky, The Observer (UK). Besides creating page-turning narrative tension, Mendelsohn’s father Jay’s skepticism raises a question: What good are classics to a modern life? .Mendelsohn is the closest thing American classicists have to a hometown celebrity; his nonpareil prose has been recognized in wide literary circles. Even as Mendelsohn lights up hidden meanings in the Odyssey and universal resonances for the reader, he is not only conveying his knowledge about the epic, but about the little things, too, those details that make a person who they are. The book thus enacts a truth that has long been central to Mendelsohn’s writing and teaching, which is that the great works of antiquity remain relevant today. This is a gentle, at times almost nostalgic, work; Mendelsohn’s lithe prose flits seamlessly across intervals and registers, switching from erudite exposition one minute to emotion-filled reminiscence the next. This accomplished book testifies to what is perhaps the Odyssey ’s most abiding message: that intelligence has little value if it isn’t allied to love.” —William Skidelsky, The Guardian (UK) “Brilliant . The ancient story’s leaving and coming back to shared memories is also a strength of a son’s tribute to his father. Reading The Odyssey , the great book, with your failing old man, and keeping each other company in the parallel epic known as life [is] a memory that will last longer than anything on your cellphone.” —Ian Brown, The Globe and Mail (Canada).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"As other reviewers have noted, Daniel Mendelssohn skillfully interweaves a compelling father and son narrative along with erudite commentary on the text of the Odyssey in this book."
"A book written by a fascinating, intelligent, educated man, that brings us into his thinking and remembering his life."
"A phenomenal book--healing, touching, and insightful."
"It was an excellent introduction to the Odyssey and a delightful memoir of a son’s relationship with his aging father."
"Jay Mendelsohn, a retired research scientist, decided to take the undergraduate seminar on Homer's Odyssey that his son Daniel teaches at Bard College. Additionally, Jay and Daniel take an educational Mediterranean cruise together that attempts to re-create the journey of Odysseus. Daniel blends literary analysis with personal family history and creates a powerful work that is an enduring tribute to both Jay Mendelsohn and The Odyssey."
"A wonderful story about fathers and sons."
"Daniel Mendelsohn, a Classics professor at Bard College, has written "An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic", a book, a memoir, almost a dissertation on what seem to be two of his favorite subjects, family and classical literature. Daniel had long tried to understand his father and felt that Jay, with a long interest in the classics and Greek, might benefit from studying that father-son (and grandfather) epic, "The Odyssey" together. How Odysseus felt after not seeing his home, his wife, his father, and his son for twenty years can't exactly be paired with a man's life two thousand years later, but just the working through the passages of the epic with his father helped bring the two closer and helps Daniel understand - a bit - about his father."
The great epic of Western literature, translated by the acclaimed classicist Robert Fagles Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, presents us with Homer's best-loved and most accessible poem in a stunning modern-verse translation. Odysseus' reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War is at once a timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance. Odysseus, on his way home from the Trojan War, encounters all kinds of marvels from one-eyed giants to witches and beautiful temptresses. His adventures are many and memorable before he gets back to Ithaca and his faithful wife Penelope. His translations include Sophocles’s Three Theban Plays , Aeschylus’s Oresteia (nominated for a National Book Award), Homer’s Iliad (winner of the 1991 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award by The Academy of American Poets), Homer’s Odyssey , and Virgil's Aeneid . His works include The Heroic Temper: Studies in Sophoclean Tragedy, Oedipus at Thebes: Sophocles’ Tragic Hero and His Time and Essays Ancient and Modern (awarded the 1989 PEN/Spielvogel-Diamonstein Award).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Peter Green states in the introduction that he is following in the footsteps of Lattimore, to preserve as much of the poem in Greek--wording, sentence structure, meter, and so on--in English, but to also make it declaimable. There is the Fagles translation, in modern free verse, is wonderful to read aloud. The Fagles Odyssey was on Selected Shorts once, and for a long time after I insisted that there was no other worthwhile contemporary translation of Homer. Lombardo's translation is pretty common in colleges because of the price and the slangy presentation. In the Greek, the Iliad has "μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος" Quite literally, "Rage! The first word is the theme of the poem, the way it is directed first against Agamemnon, then toward the Trojans, and then tempered for a common moment of humanity, is the internal trajectory of the whole epic. Make it into readable English, and you wind up with a host of compromises where thousands of close translations might do. Go far enough you wind up with Girardoux's "The Trojan War Will Not Take Place," worthwhile on its own, but not really a "translation." The introduction includes a plot summary of the whole Trojan War, of which the Iliad only covers a small portion. There is also a synopsis of the poem keyed to the poem in the back matter to help find your place, an enlightening glossary of names and concepts to help you through your first read, and footnotes to inform the reader of context that has since been lost."
"With many books, translations are negligible, with two obvious exceptions, one is the Bible, and surprisingly the other is The Iliad. -Translated by Robert Fagles, 1990. “Sing, O Goddess, the anger of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a heroes did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures for so were the counsels of Zeus fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles first fell out with one another.”. -Translated by Samuel Butler, 1888. “Rage: Sing, Goddess, Achilles’ rage, Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks. Incalculable pain pitched countless souls. Of heroes into Hades’ dark, And let their bodies rot as feasts. For dogs and birds, as Zeus’ will was done. Begin with the clash between Agamemnon—. The Greek Warlord—and godlike Achilles.”. -Translated by Stanley Lombardo, 1997. “Anger be now your song, immortal one, Akhilleus’ anger, doomed and ruinous, that caused the Akhaians loss on bitter loss. and crowded brave souls into the undergloom, leaving so many dead men—carrion. for dogs and birds; and the will of Zeus was done. Begin it when the two men first contending. broke with one another—. the Lord Marshal Agamémnon, Atreus’ son, and Prince Akhilleus.”. -Translated by Translated by Robert Fitzgerald, 1963. “Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son of Achilleus and its devastation, which puts pains thousandfold upon the Achains, hurled in the multitudes to the house of Hades strong souls of heroes, but gave their bodies to be the delicate feasting of dogs, of all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished since that time when first there stood the division of conflict Atrecus’ son the lord of men and brilliant Achilleus.”. –Translated by Richmond Lattimore, 1951. “Sing, goddess, of Peleus’ son Achilles’ anger, ruinous, that caused the Greeks untold ordeals, consigned to Hades countless valiant souls, heroes, and left their bodies prey for dogs or feast for vultures. Zeus’s will was done from when those two first quarreled and split apart, the king, Agamemnon, and matchless Achilles.”. -Translated by Herbert Jordan, 2008. “An angry man-there is my story: the bitter rancor of Achillês, prince of the house of Peleus, which brought a thousand troubles upon the Achaian host. Many a strong soul it sent down to Hadês, and left the heroes themselves a prey to the dogs and carrion birds, while the will of God moved on to fulfillment.”. -Translated and transliterated by W.H.D. Rouse, 1950. “Achilles’ wrath, to Greece the direful spring. Of woes unnumber’d, heavenly goddess, sing! That wrath which hurl’d to Pluto’s gloomy reign. The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain; Whose limbs unburied on the naked shore, Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore. Peleus’ son; His wrath pernicious, who ten thousand woes. Caused to Achaia’s host, sent many a soul. Illustrious into Ades premature, And Heroes gave (so stood the will of Jove). To dogs and to all ravening fowls a prey, When fierce dispute had separated once. The noble Chief Achilles from the son. Of Atreus, Agamemnon, King of men.”. -Translated by William Cowper, London 1791. “Achilles’ baneful wrath – resound, O goddess – that impos’d. Infinite sorrow on the Greeks, and the brave souls loos’d. From beasts heroic; sent them far, to that invisible cave*. That no light comforts; and their limbs to dogs and vultures gave: To all which Jove’s will give effect; from whom the first strife begun. Betwixt Atrides, king of men, and Thetis’ godlike son*”. -Translated by George Chapman, 1616. “The Rage of Achilles—sing it now, goddess, sing through me. the deadly rage that caused the Achaeans such grief. and hurled down to Hades the souls of so many fighters, leaving their naked flesh to be eaten by dogs. and carrion birds, as the will of Zeus was accomplished. Begin at the time when bitter words first divided. that king of men, Agamemnon, and godlike Achilles.”. -Translated by Stephen Mitchell. “Sing now, goddess, the wrath of Achilles the scion of Peleus, ruinous rage which brought the Achaians uncounted afflictions; many of the powerful souls it sent to the dwelling of Hades, those of the heroes, and spoil for the dogs it made it their bodies, plunder for the birds, and the purpose of Zeus was accomplished__”. -Translated by Rodney Merrill. “Sing, goddess, the anger of Achilles, Peleus’ son, the accused anger which brought the Achaeans countless. agonies and hurled many mighty shades of heroes into Hades, causing them to become the prey of dogs. and all kinds of birds; and the plan of Zeus was fulfilled.”. -Translated by Anthony Verity. Antony does not attempt to be poetic. “Of Peleus’ son, Achilles, sing, O Muse, The vengeance, deep and deadly; whence to Greece. Unnumbered ills arose; which many a soul. Of mighty warriors to the viewless shades. Ultimately sent; they on the battle plain. Unburied lay, to rav’ning dogs, And carrion birds; but had Jove decreed,”. -Translated by Edward Smith-Stanly 1862. “Sing, Goddess of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus-. that murderous anger witch condemned Achaeans. to countless agonies and threw many warrior souls. deep into Hades, leaving their dead bodies. carrion food for dogs and birds-. all in the fulfillment of the will of Zeus”. - Translated by Professor Ian Johnston, British Columbia 2006. “The rage, sing O goddess, of Achilles, son of Peleus, The destructive anger that brought ten-thousand pains to the. Achaeans and sent many brave souls of fighting men to the house. of Hades and made their bodies a feast for dogs. and all kinds of birds. For such was the will of Zeus.”. - Translated by Barry B. Powell. “Wrath, goddess, sing of Achilles Pēleus’s son’s calamitous wrath, which hit the Achaians countless ills many the valiant souls it saw off down to Hādēs, souls of heroes, their selves left as carrion for dogs and all birds of prey, and the plan of Zeus was fulfilled from the first moment those two men parted in fury, Atreus’s son, king of men, and the godlike Achilles.”. -Translated by Peter Green. “Sing, goddess, the wrath of Achilles Peleus' son, the ruinous wrath that brought on the Achaians woes innumerable, and hurled down into Hades many strong souls of heroes, and gave their bodies to be a prey to dogs and all winged fowls; and so the counsel of Zeus wrought out its accomplishment from the day when first strife parted Atreides king of men and noble Achilles.”. - Translated by Andrew Lang, M.A., Walter Leaf, Litt.D., And Ernest Myers, M.A. --------. Wrath–sing, goddess, of the ruinous wrath of Peleus’ son Achilles, that inflicted woes without number upon the Achaeans, hurled fourth to Hades many strong souls of warriors. and rendered their bodies prey for the dogs, for all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished; sing from when they to first stood in conflict-. Ateus’ son, lord of men, and godlike Achilles. We have the wide conflict between the Trojans and Achaeans over a matter of pride; the gods get to take sides and many times direct spears and shields. That of Achilles, son of Peleus and the greatest individual warrior and that of Agamemnon, lord of men, whose power comes form position."
Best Medieval Literary Critism
The great epic of Western literature, translated by the acclaimed classicist Robert Fagles Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, presents us with Homer's best-loved and most accessible poem in a stunning modern-verse translation. Odysseus' reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War is at once a timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance. Odysseus, on his way home from the Trojan War, encounters all kinds of marvels from one-eyed giants to witches and beautiful temptresses. His adventures are many and memorable before he gets back to Ithaca and his faithful wife Penelope. His translations include Sophocles’s Three Theban Plays , Aeschylus’s Oresteia (nominated for a National Book Award), Homer’s Iliad (winner of the 1991 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award by The Academy of American Poets), Homer’s Odyssey , and Virgil's Aeneid . His works include The Heroic Temper: Studies in Sophoclean Tragedy, Oedipus at Thebes: Sophocles’ Tragic Hero and His Time and Essays Ancient and Modern (awarded the 1989 PEN/Spielvogel-Diamonstein Award).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Peter Green states in the introduction that he is following in the footsteps of Lattimore, to preserve as much of the poem in Greek--wording, sentence structure, meter, and so on--in English, but to also make it declaimable. There is the Fagles translation, in modern free verse, is wonderful to read aloud. The Fagles Odyssey was on Selected Shorts once, and for a long time after I insisted that there was no other worthwhile contemporary translation of Homer. Lombardo's translation is pretty common in colleges because of the price and the slangy presentation. In the Greek, the Iliad has "μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος" Quite literally, "Rage! The first word is the theme of the poem, the way it is directed first against Agamemnon, then toward the Trojans, and then tempered for a common moment of humanity, is the internal trajectory of the whole epic. Make it into readable English, and you wind up with a host of compromises where thousands of close translations might do. Go far enough you wind up with Girardoux's "The Trojan War Will Not Take Place," worthwhile on its own, but not really a "translation." The introduction includes a plot summary of the whole Trojan War, of which the Iliad only covers a small portion. There is also a synopsis of the poem keyed to the poem in the back matter to help find your place, an enlightening glossary of names and concepts to help you through your first read, and footnotes to inform the reader of context that has since been lost."
"With many books, translations are negligible, with two obvious exceptions, one is the Bible, and surprisingly the other is The Iliad. -Translated by Robert Fagles, 1990. “Sing, O Goddess, the anger of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a heroes did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures for so were the counsels of Zeus fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles first fell out with one another.”. -Translated by Samuel Butler, 1888. “Rage: Sing, Goddess, Achilles’ rage, Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks. Incalculable pain pitched countless souls. Of heroes into Hades’ dark, And let their bodies rot as feasts. For dogs and birds, as Zeus’ will was done. Begin with the clash between Agamemnon—. The Greek Warlord—and godlike Achilles.”. -Translated by Stanley Lombardo, 1997. “Anger be now your song, immortal one, Akhilleus’ anger, doomed and ruinous, that caused the Akhaians loss on bitter loss. and crowded brave souls into the undergloom, leaving so many dead men—carrion. for dogs and birds; and the will of Zeus was done. Begin it when the two men first contending. broke with one another—. the Lord Marshal Agamémnon, Atreus’ son, and Prince Akhilleus.”. -Translated by Translated by Robert Fitzgerald, 1963. “Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son of Achilleus and its devastation, which puts pains thousandfold upon the Achains, hurled in the multitudes to the house of Hades strong souls of heroes, but gave their bodies to be the delicate feasting of dogs, of all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished since that time when first there stood the division of conflict Atrecus’ son the lord of men and brilliant Achilleus.”. –Translated by Richmond Lattimore, 1951. “Sing, goddess, of Peleus’ son Achilles’ anger, ruinous, that caused the Greeks untold ordeals, consigned to Hades countless valiant souls, heroes, and left their bodies prey for dogs or feast for vultures. Zeus’s will was done from when those two first quarreled and split apart, the king, Agamemnon, and matchless Achilles.”. -Translated by Herbert Jordan, 2008. “An angry man-there is my story: the bitter rancor of Achillês, prince of the house of Peleus, which brought a thousand troubles upon the Achaian host. Many a strong soul it sent down to Hadês, and left the heroes themselves a prey to the dogs and carrion birds, while the will of God moved on to fulfillment.”. -Translated and transliterated by W.H.D. Rouse, 1950. “Achilles’ wrath, to Greece the direful spring. Of woes unnumber’d, heavenly goddess, sing! That wrath which hurl’d to Pluto’s gloomy reign. The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain; Whose limbs unburied on the naked shore, Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore. Peleus’ son; His wrath pernicious, who ten thousand woes. Caused to Achaia’s host, sent many a soul. Illustrious into Ades premature, And Heroes gave (so stood the will of Jove). To dogs and to all ravening fowls a prey, When fierce dispute had separated once. The noble Chief Achilles from the son. Of Atreus, Agamemnon, King of men.”. -Translated by William Cowper, London 1791. “Achilles’ baneful wrath – resound, O goddess – that impos’d. Infinite sorrow on the Greeks, and the brave souls loos’d. From beasts heroic; sent them far, to that invisible cave*. That no light comforts; and their limbs to dogs and vultures gave: To all which Jove’s will give effect; from whom the first strife begun. Betwixt Atrides, king of men, and Thetis’ godlike son*”. -Translated by George Chapman, 1616. “The Rage of Achilles—sing it now, goddess, sing through me. the deadly rage that caused the Achaeans such grief. and hurled down to Hades the souls of so many fighters, leaving their naked flesh to be eaten by dogs. and carrion birds, as the will of Zeus was accomplished. Begin at the time when bitter words first divided. that king of men, Agamemnon, and godlike Achilles.”. -Translated by Stephen Mitchell. “Sing now, goddess, the wrath of Achilles the scion of Peleus, ruinous rage which brought the Achaians uncounted afflictions; many of the powerful souls it sent to the dwelling of Hades, those of the heroes, and spoil for the dogs it made it their bodies, plunder for the birds, and the purpose of Zeus was accomplished__”. -Translated by Rodney Merrill. “Sing, goddess, the anger of Achilles, Peleus’ son, the accused anger which brought the Achaeans countless. agonies and hurled many mighty shades of heroes into Hades, causing them to become the prey of dogs. and all kinds of birds; and the plan of Zeus was fulfilled.”. -Translated by Anthony Verity. Antony does not attempt to be poetic. “Of Peleus’ son, Achilles, sing, O Muse, The vengeance, deep and deadly; whence to Greece. Unnumbered ills arose; which many a soul. Of mighty warriors to the viewless shades. Ultimately sent; they on the battle plain. Unburied lay, to rav’ning dogs, And carrion birds; but had Jove decreed,”. -Translated by Edward Smith-Stanly 1862. “Sing, Goddess of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus-. that murderous anger witch condemned Achaeans. to countless agonies and threw many warrior souls. deep into Hades, leaving their dead bodies. carrion food for dogs and birds-. all in the fulfillment of the will of Zeus”. - Translated by Professor Ian Johnston, British Columbia 2006. “The rage, sing O goddess, of Achilles, son of Peleus, The destructive anger that brought ten-thousand pains to the. Achaeans and sent many brave souls of fighting men to the house. of Hades and made their bodies a feast for dogs. and all kinds of birds. For such was the will of Zeus.”. - Translated by Barry B. Powell. “Wrath, goddess, sing of Achilles Pēleus’s son’s calamitous wrath, which hit the Achaians countless ills many the valiant souls it saw off down to Hādēs, souls of heroes, their selves left as carrion for dogs and all birds of prey, and the plan of Zeus was fulfilled from the first moment those two men parted in fury, Atreus’s son, king of men, and the godlike Achilles.”. -Translated by Peter Green. “Sing, goddess, the wrath of Achilles Peleus' son, the ruinous wrath that brought on the Achaians woes innumerable, and hurled down into Hades many strong souls of heroes, and gave their bodies to be a prey to dogs and all winged fowls; and so the counsel of Zeus wrought out its accomplishment from the day when first strife parted Atreides king of men and noble Achilles.”. - Translated by Andrew Lang, M.A., Walter Leaf, Litt.D., And Ernest Myers, M.A. --------. Wrath–sing, goddess, of the ruinous wrath of Peleus’ son Achilles, that inflicted woes without number upon the Achaeans, hurled fourth to Hades many strong souls of warriors. and rendered their bodies prey for the dogs, for all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished; sing from when they to first stood in conflict-. Ateus’ son, lord of men, and godlike Achilles. We have the wide conflict between the Trojans and Achaeans over a matter of pride; the gods get to take sides and many times direct spears and shields. That of Achilles, son of Peleus and the greatest individual warrior and that of Agamemnon, lord of men, whose power comes form position."
Best Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology Literary Criticism
In celebration of of the 75th anniversary of this classic bestseller, this stunningly illustrated, beautifully packaged, larger-format hardcover edition will be beloved by fans of Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology of all ages. She regarded as the high point of her life a 1957 ceremony in which King Paul of Greece named her an honorary citizen of Athens.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It's a classic for good reason."
"Required for freshman English class."
"Good book, but mine came with the spine bent ever so slightly diagonally that it drives me insane."
"This book gives you details about the gods that you didn't know you wanted to know!"
"Edith Hamilton's classic."
"Needed this For my English IS class and it provided spot on and flawless information over Greek mythology down to the core."
"books are great (and we ha to have it for school)."
Best Latin American Literature
The Signet Classics edition of William Shakespeare's fantastical play that combines elements of tragedy and comedy. PROSPERO, the right Duke of Milan. MIRANDA, his daughter. ALONSO, King of Naples. SEBASTIAN, his brother. ANTONIO, Prospero's brother, the usurping Duke of Milan. FERDINAND, son to the King of Naples. GONZALO, an honest old councillor. ADRIAN and FRANCISCO, lords. TRINCULO, a jester. STEPHANO, a drunken butler. MASTER, of a ship. BOATSWAIN. MARINERS. CALIBAN, a savage and deformed slave. ARIEL, an airy spirit. IRIS, CERES, JUNO, spirits commanded by Prospero. playing roles of NYMPHS, REAPERS. Tend to th'master's whistle.- Blow, till thou burst thy wind, if room enough. You are a counsellor: if you can command these elements to silence, and work the peace of the present, we will not hand a rope more: use your authority. If you cannot, give thanks you have lived so long, and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap.- Cheerly, good hearts!- Out of our way, I say. GONZALO I have great comfort from this fellow: methinks he hath no drowning mark upon him: his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to his hanging: make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage. GONZALO I'll warrant him for drowning, though the ship were no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky as an unstanched wench. This wide-chopped rascal: would thou mightst lie drowning, the washing of ten tides! GONZALO Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground: long heath, brown furze, anything. MIRANDA If by your art, my dearest father, you have. Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch, But that the sea, mounting to th'welkin's cheek, Dashes the fire out. Had I been any god of power, I would. Have sunk the sea within the earth, or ere. It should the good ship so have swallowed, and. The fraughting souls within her. The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touched. The very virtue of compassion in thee, I have with such provision in mine art. So safely ordered that there is no soul -. No, not so much perdition as an hair. Betid to any creature in the vessel. Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. MIRANDA You have often. Begun to tell me what I am, but stopped. And left me to a bootless inquisition, Concluding 'Stay: not yet.'. PROSPERO The hour's now come, The very minute bids thee ope thine ear: Obey, and be attentive. PROSPERO My brother and thy uncle, called Antonio -. I pray thee, mark me - that a brother should. Be so perfidious - he whom next thyself. Of all the world I loved, and to him put. The manage of my state, as at that time. Through all the signories it was the first, And Prospero the prime duke, being so reputed. In dignity, and for the liberal arts. Without a parallel; those being all my study, The government I cast upon my brother. And to my state grew stranger, being transported. And rapt in secret studies. PROSPERO Being once perfected how to grant suits, How to deny them, who t'advance and who. To trash for over-topping, new created. The creatures that were mine, I say, or changed 'em, Or else new formed 'em; having both the key. Of officer and office, set all hearts i'th'state. To what tune pleased his ear, that now he was. The ivy which had hid my princely trunk. And sucked my verdure out on't.- Thou attend'st. not. PROSPERO I pray thee, mark me: I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated. To closeness and the bettering of my mind. With that, which but by being so retired, O'er-prized all popular rate, in my false brother. Awaked an evil nature, and my trust, Like a good parent, did beget of him. A falsehood in its contrary, as great. As my trust was, which had indeed no limit, A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded, Not only with what my revenue yielded, But what my power might else exact: like one. Who having into truth, by telling of it, Made such a sinner of his memory. To credit his own lie, he did believe. He was indeed the duke, out o'th'substitution. And executing th'outward face of royalty. With all prerogative: hence his ambition growing -. Dost thou hear? Me - poor man - my library. Was dukedom large enough: of temporal royalties. He thinks me now incapable. Confederates -. So dry he was for sway - wi'th'King of Naples. To give him annual tribute, do him homage, Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend. The dukedom yet unbowed - alas, poor Milan -. To most ignoble stooping. MIRANDA I should sin. To think but nobly of my grandmother: Good wombs have borne bad sons. This King of Naples, being an enemy. To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit, Which was, that he, in lieu o'th'premises. Of homage, and I know not how much tribute, Should presently extirpate me and mine. Out of the dukedom, and confer fair Milan, With all the honours, on my brother: whereon, A treacherous army levied, one midnight. Fated to th'purpose, did Antonio open. The gates of Milan, and i'th'dead of darkness. The ministers for th'purpose hurried thence. Me and thy crying self. PROSPERO Hear a little further, And then I'll bring thee to the present business. Which now's upon's: without the which, this story. Were most impertinent. In few, they hurried us aboard a barque, Bore us some leagues to sea, where they prepared. A rotten carcass of a butt, not rigged, Nor tackle, sail, nor mast: the very rats. Instinctively have quit it. Thou didst smile, Infusèd with a fortitude from heaven, When I have decked the sea with drops full salt, Under my burden groaned, which raised in me. An undergoing stomach, to bear up. Against what should ensue. Some food we had, and some fresh water, that. A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo, Out of his charity - who being then appointed. Master of this design - did give us, with. Rich garments, linens, stuffs and necessaries, Which since have steaded much. So, of. his gentleness, Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me. From mine own library with volumes that. I prize above my dukedom. Here in this island we arrived, and here. Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit. Than other princes can that have more time. For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful. PROSPERO Know thus far forth: By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune -. Now my dear lady - hath mine enemies. Brought to this shore: and by my prescience. I find my zenith doth depend upon. A most auspicious star, whose influence. If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes. Will ever after droop. 'Tis a good dullness, And give it way: I know thou canst not choose.- Miranda. Come away, servant, come. PROSPERO Hast thou, spirit, Performed to point the tempest that I bade thee? I boarded the king's ship: now on the beak, Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin, I flamed amazement: sometime I'd divide. And burn in many places; on the topmast, The yards and bowsprit would I flame distinctly, Then meet and join. Jove's lightning, the precursors. O'th'dreadful thunderclaps, more momentary. And sight-outrunning were not; the fire and cracks. Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune. Seem to besiege and make his bold waves tremble, Yea, his dread trident shake. ARIEL Not a soul. But felt a fever of the mad and played. Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners. Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel, Then all afire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand, With hair up-staring - then like reeds, not hair -. Was the first man that leaped; cried 'Hell is empty. And all the devils are here.'. ARIEL Not a hair perished: On their sustaining garments not a blemish, But fresher than before: and, as thou bad'st me, In troops I have dispersed them 'bout the isle. The king's son have I landed by himself, Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs. In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting, His arms in this sad knot.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"For those not already familiar with the play, it is the only one of Shakespeare plays without a recognizable source for the main plot, although there is documentation for many details in the voyage literature of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, especially the earlier years of the Virginia colony. A compendium, "The Complete Pelican Shakespeare," with revised texts, was eventually issued as a fat hardcover, and the whole series was then re-issued in individual paperbacks. They otherwise retain the basic structure of Publisher's Note, the General Editors on "The Theatrical World" and "The Texts of Shakespeare," an introduction by the volume editor, a Note on the Text," and the text with vocabulary footnotes (embracing slightly more complicated issues, such as puns). There is yet another possible source of confusion, a completely independent "Penguin Shakespeare" series, apparently issued mainly in the U.K., and much more elaborate (closer in format to the American Signet Shakespeare and recent Folger Library editions). Although standard practices in editing Shakespeare changed over the almost fifty years separating the initiations of the two Pelican series, these changes are of remarkably little relevance to "The Tempest," which appeared in the First Folio, and only the First Folio, and in a fairly clean text to boot. Here and elsewhere, Frye's text occasionally "corrects" some of the Folio's stage directions -- which are insufficient by modern standards, and often confusingly placed -- and normalizes the spelling (the Pelican practice), but is otherwise comfortingly unremarkable, with no effort to make Shakespeare say what he ought to have said, instead of what the sixteenth and seventeenth-century texts in fact say."
"My sister purchased this edition for her class, and it has greatly helped her to make sense of the writing, rather than to have her mind boggled."
"While I would not suggest this as your first read in Shakespeare, I would still call it a 'must read' when studying Shakespeare."
"This makes me ENJOY the story, PASS the class and save TIME."
"Each Folger edition is constructed to Shakespeare's play is on one side withe explanation of terms, sites, meanings, etc."
"This book was not the exact edition of the book that I needed for class but the only differences were the page numbers and the cover, which is not a big deal."
"The Norton Critical Editions are pretty much universally loved, and for good reason - informative, detailed criticism, well-edited and presented."
"This is one of the poorest cheap Kindle editions of a Shakespeare play I've downloaded."
Best Literary Movements & Periods
As an immigrant from Poland to England, and in travels from Malaya to Congo to the Caribbean, Conrad navigated an interconnected world, and captured it in a literary oeuvre of extraordinary depth. In a compelling blend of history, biography, and travelogue, Maya Jasanoff follows Conrad’s routes and the stories of his four greatest works— The Secret Agent , Lord Jim , Heart of Darkness , and Nostromo . “Brilliant…Jasanoff is an insightful and imaginative historian…The book comes in the form of a biography of Joseph Conrad, but in fact through Conrad she tells the story of a whole phase in world history…Boundless curiosity is also an attribute of Maya Jasanoff...[Her] travels have given her an empathy and an understanding for Conrad, and also for the victims of imperialism, that breathe on every page of this magnificent book…This is the best book on Conrad since [Ian] Watt’s. “Enlightening, compassionate, superb” —John Le Carré “With wit, nuance, and roving insight, Harvard historian Maya Jasanoff’s The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World maps the massively influential and controversial author’s life and work, finding that the themes of his time—dislocation and connection, immigration and xenophobia, power and powerlessness—uncannily mirror our own.” — Megan O’Grady, Vogue.com’s 10 Best Books of 2017 “[A] brilliant study . “[Jasanoff] Skillfully integrates details of Conrad’s life and accounts of his four greatest works, linking the challenges and forces that lie behind and within the novels to those of the 21st century…A powerful encouragement to read his books.” —. The Economist “This is an unobtrusively skillful, subtle, clear-eyed book, beautifully narrated…It is Jasanoff’s warmth towards her subject that comes through.” — Financial Times. “[Conrad’s] life story has been told many times, but Maya Jasanoff’s stands out for its vivid and imaginative writing…she provides rich background details on multiple topics…her attempts to reveal the hidden springs of Conrad’s fiction are often perceptive.” — Sunday Times (UK). “A great biography of Conrad for our times could never be just a biography of Conrad. To read it is to be a stowaway in the hull of a ship sailing from Conrad’s times to our own, as swift as the wind.” —Jill Lepore “In Dawn Watch , Maya Jasanoff has fashioned a singular craft for exploring the rapids and crosscurrents of a newly globalized era. The journey is intellectually exhilarating, and brings us to a richer understanding not only of Conrad’s world but our own.” —Kwame Anthony Appiah "Maya Jasanoff’s masterpiece....one of the most important books on colonialism to be written in our time, and by one of our most brilliant young historians." Maya Jasanoff is an eloquent historian and an erudite storyteller; she almost persuaded me to re-read Nostromo .” —Geoff Dyer “Jasanoff has done her research on sea and land as well as in the archives, and her book is often thrilling to read as it travels the world with Conrad. An admirable and profoundly meditated biography, worthy of its subject.” —Claire Tomalin “A guided tour of the underside of empire, led by the fiction of Joseph Conrad and the erudition of Maya Jasanoff, The Dawn Watch is history, biography, and adventure story.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is a wonderfully written piece of excellent engaging prose."
"Really good, especially if you have any interest in Joseph Conrad and his works."
"If you have an interest in the works of Joseph Conrad or wish to learn more about how he lived his life, then this book should be read."
"She observes, “In this book I set out to explore Conrad’s world with the compass of a historian, the chart of a biographer, and the navigational sextant of a fiction reader.”. Conrad was born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski on December 3, 1857, to Polish parents in Berdichev (now Berdychiv), Ukraine, and was raised and educated primarily in Poland. The silhouette of forest scrolled past, interrupted now and then by villages of thatched huts on poles...But the jungle wasn’t closing in, there was no sense of menace, and rather than feeling alienated from my surroundings, I was embraced into a veritable floating village...I had come to Congo to find Conrad, yet he had never felt further away. Perhaps moreso today than when Korzeniowski embarked on his first voyage and retired from his last, our world is vulnerable to “the awful attribute of our nature...[one that] is not so far under the surface as we think.”. In this context, I am again reminded of an observation by Joan Didion: " “I suppose I am talking about just that: the ambiguity of belonging to a generation distrustful of political highs, the historical irrelevancy of growing up convinced that the heart of darkness lay not in some error of social organization but in man’s own blood.”. I plan to re-read once again Maya Jasanoff’s brilliant book as well as Heart of Darkness and probably Lord Jim."
"As this suggests, her range is wide and her knowledge is deep. Here are a couple of particularly lovely sentences: “Pine-scented summer veered into dank, frost-nipped autumn.” Or, a page later, “Even when you can trace the fault lines, there’s no knowing where or when an earthquake will strike.” Yes, sometimes an “off” sentence sounds, “Fog slung moist arms around the town’s shoulders.” But the next sentence redeems: “Wet, black forest scratched its back.” Jasanoff has traveled down the Congo and other Conradian places, all the better to give you a sense of what he may have experienced and seen (albeit with an eye to how things have changed) and how this author has a restless and insatiable appetite for experience, akin to Conrad’s."
"With the sweeping narrative of a great history, the perception of an insightful biography, and the eloquence of a great novel, The Dawn Watch recounts much more than the story of Polish-born British author Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)."
Best Parent & Adult Child Relationships
But through the sometimes uncomfortable months that the two men explore Homer's great work together--first in the classroom, where Jay persistently challenges his son's interpretations, and then during a surprise-filled Mediterranean journey retracing Odysseus's famous voyages--it becomes clear that Daniel has much to learn, too: Jay's responses to both the text and the travels gradually uncover long-buried secrets that allow the son to understand his difficult father at last. Mendelsohn weaves his basket with many wands; the complexity seems natural, an account of the quality of life itself, a route to revelation. The book partakes of at least four genres: classroom drama; travel writing; biographical memoir; literary criticism. Mendelsohn makes Homer’s epic shine in your mind.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times “My favorite classicist once again combines meticulous literary investigation with warm and wrenching human emotion—books like these are why I love reading.” —Lee Child “Poignant, tender, affecting. “When Daniel Mendelsohn’s mathematician father lands in his son’s Homer seminar at Bard, the older man sets in motion an odyssey both hilarious and heartfelt. Father and son start in the pages of an epic, board a ship to follow the hero’s path through the Mediterranean, and finally end where all our stories do. Dread of the alien thrums through [Homer’s] Odyssey ; for Mendelsohn, the ancient tale becomes an occasion not only to explore his relationship with his father, but to transform it. The recognition leaves Mendelsohn free to see through his father’s hardness—his ‘exacting standards for everything’—to the vulnerable fighter within: a scrappy, strategizing Odysseus from the Bronx. What solace or despair resides in the unexpected relevance of this ancient poem, its encounters with Otherness thrown into high relief by the xenophobia of our time? [But] it dives deeper, excavating a portrait of Mendelsohn’s special student, his father: his lonely childhood, his early brilliance, his forfeiture of Latin for a life of numbers. There is but one ending to the book; within a year, Jay would die, and so Mendelsohn’s journey—indeed like Homer’s—would be undertaken after the fact, when something remained to be learned. In An Odyssey, he reels us in with a storyteller’s strongest gifts: passion, clarity, and timing.” —Willard Spiegelman, Wall Street Journal. Mendelsohn’s exploration is [both] a personal family memoir and a critical report on Homer’s epic, and the two facets illuminate each other. The Mediterranean cruise that father and son take pays off in surprising ways; we get a haunting glimpse of the fear that the end of your journey means finis , the hope residual in permanent postponement. This is an honest, and loving, account of the improbable odyssey that gave them this one last deeply satisfying adventure together.” —Peter Green, The New York Review of Books “Heartfelt, touching . The course, and the cruise retracing Odyssey’s voyage to Ithaca a few months later, set in motion an emotional journey neither man could have anticipated. Mendelsohn expertly examines the Odyssey with depth and classical acumen, extracting meaning from even its most subtle moments. He details his own relationship with the ancient poem, and he culls from the narrative many insights into his own familial bonds, specifically with his father. a surprising piece of art—a masterful memoir of reading, teaching and learning; a book as full of twists and turns as its subject, often beautiful too. This is a story of reconciling a scientist and an artist; Jay, the man of calculus, comes to influence both his son and his fellow pupils. As well as a contribution to the art of memoir, An Odyssey is a vivid defence of the close rereading of a classical text, the tiny questions from which bigger pictures become clear.” —Peter Stothard, The Financial Times ★ “Enlightening—engaging, gripping and deeply moving . Mendelsohn explores the enduring relevance of Homer’s Odyssey through a memoir tracing the complex relationship between father and son.” —Library Journal (starred review) “Beguiling. in this memoir, Mendelsohn recounts a freshman class on the Odyssey he taught at Bard College with his father, an 81-year-old computer scientist, sitting in. … Mendelsohn gradually unwraps layers of timeless meaning in the ancient Greek poem; Homeric heroes offer resonant psychological parallels to a modern family. His father, a retired mathematician, had been interested in the classics during his school days and decided to continue his education by studying with his son . The author uses a close reading of the epic to illuminate the mysteries of the human condition; he skillfully, subtly interweaves textual analysis [with] the lessons of life outside it . At the book’s center is [Mendelsohn’s father] Jay, whose presence in the classroom bewilders and charms the other students and his son . With this graceful and searching memoir, we all drink from the cup of knowledge proffered by one of our leading philosopher-writers.” —Hamilton Cain, Star Tribune. A meditation on filial love as candid, tender and in its own way ruthless as its counterparts in the Bible, Shakespeare and Homer . both dense and fleet, and wholly captivating.” —Tim Pfaff, The Bay Area Reporter “It’s hard to pierce a legend, even when it’s just generation-old family lore . As author-professor, Mendelsohn doesn’t lecture; his storytelling leaves room for other teachers — including his current students, his former professors and relatives who decode multi-layered family myths. Classroom discussions of Odysseus’ long, wandering journey home to Ithaca led father and son to undertake a real-life Mediterranean cruise retracing the Greek warrior’s travels. Mendelsohn begins to see his father in a new light even while the older man challenges the basic tenets of Homer’s epic. A noted memoirist and venerable contributor to a myriad of respected periodicals, Daniel Mendelsohn doesn’t hold back. An Odyssey carefully unpacks details from Homer’s epic poem, with the author taking the stance of a vigilant observer. Witnessing his father’s guileless rediscovery of the ancient text, Mendelsohn’s life’s work as a classicist is turned on its head. The revelations and thoughts of the central characters of Homer’s Odyssey serve as portals to deeper understanding of contemporary relationships. Studying (and essentially mirroring) Homer’s legendary work allowed both the Mendelsohn father and son to find new dimensions for their love of one another. While the events of An Odyssey conclude with Jay passing away, the vibrant stamp he left behind on his son is evidenced by the profundity of the memoir’s pages. It’s an epic reconciliation, albeit a quiet one, focused on all that he’d been given by his father, celebrating their mutual love and respect.” —Michael Raver, The Huffington Post “Family memoirs are often chronicles of estrangement and rapprochement, typically seeking to wring meaning from the haze of grief or regret. As the memoir unspools, Mendelsohn’s narrative grip tightens, and the son’s search for his father becomes poignant and powerful.” —Julia M. Klein, The Forward “Compelling . As I read Mendelsohn’s wonderfully precise textual analysis of Homer, I couldn’t help but think how similar his interpretative method is to the ways in which Biblical scholars parse the Torah for deeper understanding. Through Homer, Mendelsohn has created a memorial his father: an extraordinary act of filial love.” —Helen Morales, Times Literary Supplement (UK). In this insightful, tender book, Mendelsohn gracefully marries literary criticism and memoir to describe an intellectual and personal journey that becomes one of profound discovery for both [father and son]. Most impressive are his transitions from scholarly consideration of ‘The Odyssey’ to intimate stories of his family life, as when the class discussion flows effortlessly into a magical moment, witnessing [his father] Jay as he offers a heartbreakingly beautiful tribute to his wife… [There are] many wise lessons to be gleaned from this lovely book.” —Harvey Freedenberg, BookPage. Mendelsohn has achieved an enviable renown as essayist, literary critic and author of autobiographical explorations undergirded by insights from classic texts. It’s clear that Mendelsohn’s Socratic method of teaching (via dialogue rather than lecture) forces everyone, including himself, to see things with fresh eyes. Every step of the way, An Odyssey charts a remarkable journey made indelible by Mendelsohn’s elegant prose. Mendelsohn is perhaps the most accessible contemporary ambassador of the classics; An Odyssey makes his most convincing case to date for their vital necessity. Mendelsohn takes us through the Odyssey alongside his class, meanwhile drawing comparisons between his and his father’s journeys, and those of Odysseus and Telemachus. Mendelsohn has honed a method of mixing memoir and criticism to reflect on the problems of contemporary life through the lens of the Greek classics. An Odyssey is a stellar contribution to the genre of memoirs about reading—literary analysis and the personal stories are woven together in a way that feels both artful and natural. “A marvellously entertaining and wise chronicle of [Mendelsohn’s and his father’s] odyssey, first in the classroom and then on a tour of the seas around Greece. This is powerfully true of this moving new odyssey as well.” —Alberto Manguel, Literary Review (UK) “A gentle, at times almost nostalgic, work: Mendelsohn’s lithe prose flits seamlessly across intervals and registers, switching from erudite exposition one minute to emotion-filled reminiscence the next. An accomplished, brave book that testifies to what is perhaps the Odyssey ’s most abiding message: that intelligence has little value if it isn’t allied to love.” —William Skidelsky, The Observer (UK). Besides creating page-turning narrative tension, Mendelsohn’s father Jay’s skepticism raises a question: What good are classics to a modern life? .Mendelsohn is the closest thing American classicists have to a hometown celebrity; his nonpareil prose has been recognized in wide literary circles. Even as Mendelsohn lights up hidden meanings in the Odyssey and universal resonances for the reader, he is not only conveying his knowledge about the epic, but about the little things, too, those details that make a person who they are. The book thus enacts a truth that has long been central to Mendelsohn’s writing and teaching, which is that the great works of antiquity remain relevant today. This is a gentle, at times almost nostalgic, work; Mendelsohn’s lithe prose flits seamlessly across intervals and registers, switching from erudite exposition one minute to emotion-filled reminiscence the next. This accomplished book testifies to what is perhaps the Odyssey ’s most abiding message: that intelligence has little value if it isn’t allied to love.” —William Skidelsky, The Guardian (UK) “Brilliant . The ancient story’s leaving and coming back to shared memories is also a strength of a son’s tribute to his father. Reading The Odyssey , the great book, with your failing old man, and keeping each other company in the parallel epic known as life [is] a memory that will last longer than anything on your cellphone.” —Ian Brown, The Globe and Mail (Canada).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"As other reviewers have noted, Daniel Mendelssohn skillfully interweaves a compelling father and son narrative along with erudite commentary on the text of the Odyssey in this book."
"This was my favorite book of 2017 primarily because I know the author personally as well as his family."
"A book written by a fascinating, intelligent, educated man, that brings us into his thinking and remembering his life."
"A phenomenal book--healing, touching, and insightful."
"It was an excellent introduction to the Odyssey and a delightful memoir of a son’s relationship with his aging father."
"Jay Mendelsohn, a retired research scientist, decided to take the undergraduate seminar on Homer's Odyssey that his son Daniel teaches at Bard College. Additionally, Jay and Daniel take an educational Mediterranean cruise together that attempts to re-create the journey of Odysseus. Daniel blends literary analysis with personal family history and creates a powerful work that is an enduring tribute to both Jay Mendelsohn and The Odyssey."
"A wonderful story about fathers and sons."
"Daniel Mendelsohn, a Classics professor at Bard College, has written "An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic", a book, a memoir, almost a dissertation on what seem to be two of his favorite subjects, family and classical literature. Daniel had long tried to understand his father and felt that Jay, with a long interest in the classics and Greek, might benefit from studying that father-son (and grandfather) epic, "The Odyssey" together. How Odysseus felt after not seeing his home, his wife, his father, and his son for twenty years can't exactly be paired with a man's life two thousand years later, but just the working through the passages of the epic with his father helped bring the two closer and helps Daniel understand - a bit - about his father."
Best Epic Poetry
A lean, fleet-footed translation that recaptures Homer’s “nimble gallop” and brings an ancient epic to new life. “A staggeringly superior translation―true, poetic, lively and readable, and always closely engaged with the original Greek―that brings to life the fascinating variety of voices in Homer’s great epic.”. - Richard F. Thomas, Harvard University. “Emily Wilson has produced a clear, vigorous, sensitive Odyssey that conveys both the grand scale and the individual pathos of this foundational story. Emily Wilson has convincingly answered this call: hers is a vital Odyssey for the twenty-first century that brings into rhythmic English the power, dignity, variety, and immediacy of this great poem.”. - Laura Slatkin, New York University.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"More than in other translations, the Odyssey comes across here strongly as a historical document, the product of a culture from a particular time and place. Muse, tell me how he wandered and was lost. when he had wrecked the holy town of Troy, and where he went, and who he met, the pain. he suffered in the storms at sea, and how. he worked to save his life and bring his men. back home. Compare Wilson's language with that of the opening of Robert Fitzgerald's translation: "Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story. of that man skilled in all ways of contending, the wanderer, harried for years on end, after he plundered the stronghold. on the proud height of Troy. He saw the townlands. and learned the minds of many distant men, and weathered many bitter nights and days. in his deep heart at sea, while he fought only. to save his life, to bring his shipmates home. Fitzgerald translates it as "skilled in all ways of contending," and Fagles as "the man of twists and turns.""
"I have read and taught the Odyssey at least five times over the past twenty years. And Emily Wilson's version is a godsend."
"The first stanzas will make you perk up and realize that this is the most interesting translation of the Odyssey for our time."
"but at age 81 I consider The Odyssey the greatest book I have ever read, for itself and for its influence on my ways of thinking and of living. The main reason is that, in comparison to the others, it is best at creating the mood of an ancient, epic, poem. I love it when he repeats, for the nth time, "Son of Laertes and the Gods of old, Odysseus, master of land ways and sea ways..." and other such formulaic hints that we are not reading a James Bond or even a Scott Fitzgerald, nor Salinger, nor McEwan, nor certainly a Hemingway novel -- the content should perhaps be enough to distinguish Odyssey as the great epic it is, but I like the complementing embellishments of Fitzgerald's version. For a more important difference, compare the climax, as Odysseus is about to slaughter the suitors: Fitzgerald has him say: "You yellow dogs, you thought I'd never make it. home from the land of Troy. But Fitzgerald focuses on breaking the rules, on disrespecting the mores of their time: the suitors were contemptuous of both the gods, and the opinions of their fellow men."
"This translation offers new insight into Greek culture and the story of Odysseus."
"Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey is breathtakingly good."
Best Renaissance Literary Criticism
In this classic guide to acquiring and maintaining political power, Machiavelli used a rational approach to advise prospective rulers, developing logical arguments and alternatives for a number of potential problems, among them governing hereditary monarchies, dealing with colonies and the treatment of conquered peoples. The person who held the aforementioned office with the tongue-twisting title was none other than Niccolò Machiavelli, who, suddenly finding himself out of a job after 14 years of patriotic service, followed the career trajectory of many modern politicians into punditry.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"What can one say about Nicole Machiavelli........He was prescient and wasn't, ultimately, afraid to present his views."
"For a more modern take, a modern, but much much better written book to this one in many ways is "The 33 Laws of power" by Robert Greene - a book i cannot recommend highly enough."
"There is nothing false about Niccolo Machiavelli."
"I have to agree with T. Simons previously - The idea of "reviewing" this is kind of silly, but I thought I'd put in a quick note for those looking to read it on the Kindle."
"This is a classic about how to run a government to stay in power and suit your own needs."
"The Prince is, of course the foundation stone for all modern political writings on the art and science of governing."
"Liked the great summary of the BIG general ideas of The Prince."
"Niccolo Machiavelli was a genius - he understood human nature."
Best Feminist Literary Criticism
"Within every woman there is a wild and natural creature, a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing. Though the gifts of wildish nature come to us at birth, society's attempt to 'civilize' us into rigid roles has plundered this treasure, and muffled deep, life-giving messages of our own souls. In her now-classic book that spent 144 weeks on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list, and is translated into 35 languages, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., shows how woman's vitality can be restored through what she calls "psychic archaeological digs" into the ruins of the female unconscious. Dr. Estés collects the bones of many stories, looking for the archetypal motifs that set a woman's inner life into motion. Her "La Loba" teaches about the transformative function of the psyche; in "Bluebeard," we learn what to do with wounds that will not heal; in her literary story "Skeleton Woman," we glimpse the mystical power of relationship and how dead feelings can be revived; "Vasalisa the Wise" brings our lost womanly instincts to the surface again; "The Handless Maiden" recovers the Wild Woman initiation rites; and "The Little Match Girl" warns against the insidious dangers of a life spent in fantasy. With them, we retrieve, examine, love, and understand her, and hold her against our deep psyches as one who is both magic and medicine. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., is an internationally known poet, post-trauma recovery specialist, senior training psychoanalyst [Jungian], and cantadora [keeper of the old stories] in her mestizo Latina tradition. "Millennia of humans have gathered around fires to hear words that transferred hard-won wisdom and allowed dreams of unlimited possibilities. It is a road map of all the pitfalls, those familiar and those horrifically unexpected, that a woman encounters on the way back to her instinctual self. An African tale of twins who baffle a man represents the dual nature of woman; from the Middle East, a story about a threadbare but secretly magic carpet shows society's failure to look beyond appearances. At times, Estes's commentary--in which she urges readers to draw upon and enjoy their Wild Woman aspects--is hyperbolic, but overall her widely researched study offers usable advice for modern women. The precise nature of this wildness is difficult to fathom, but, at best, it seems to include a genuine capacity to access feelings and to accept one's contradictions, while, at worst, it appears to amount to the kind of self-indulgence that prevailed during the ``me'' generation.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"this book is my go to staple to feed my female soul."
"Amazing book all women need to have and read."
"I read it in French first."
"I first read this book about 15 years ago."
"My lady loves this inspiring read!"
"Estes writes with a clear voice and shares simple, fairy tales to help her readers along as they learn the importance of staying or getting empowered."
"Provides amazing insight and helpful for every woman's life's journey."
Best Victorian Literary Criticism
"My greatest thought in living is Heathcliff.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In fact, I'm of the opinion that reading 160+ year old books on Kindle has the distinct advantage of access to the built-in English dictionary. In fact the novel was so gripping and compelling that the very fact that there were even chapters to break it up left me feeling somewhat impatient! As for the French passages I had mentioned earlier, they are really very few in number and even if you don't know any French, don't let it stop you from reading this novel."
"Jane Eyre is an educated, polite woman, that makes her path through life as almost a man, criticized for refusing to be against what's supposed to do as she's a poor relation in a family, has very little cultural capital. She's plain, refused and bullied on all the paths she went: The Reeds; Bessie, her nannie; Helen, chastises her by not turning the other face; Brocklehurst, rebukes her from not knowing the psalms; Rochester, than loves her without knowing, makes her serve as an employee to his future bride, a beauty; and the Rivers. Though Jane is bullied by her plainness, by herself even, she has so many more qualities that make for it: lovely soul, courage, intelligence. ", all the leading characters have to evolve and go to different, forking paths, face beautiful things, and eat garbage, become ill, almost marry, fall in love with another and almost die. Marriage was a crowning success at that time, even for plain Jane and damaged Rochester."
Best Surrealist Literary Criticism
"— Publishers Weekly, starred review From Dada to the Automatists, and from Max Ernst to André Breton, Gérard Durozoi here provides the most comprehensive history of the Surrealist movement. Tracing the movement from its origins in the 1920s to its decline in the 1950s and 1960s, Durozoi tells the history of Surrealism through its activities, publications, and reviews, demonstrating its close ties to some of the most explosive political, as well as creative, debates of the twentieth century. With its unprecedented depth and range, this massive new history of Surrealism (including 232 color plates and 777 halftones) from veteran French philosopher and art critic Durozoi will be the one-volume standard for years to come. Divided chronologically into seven chapters, beginning with 1919-1924 and ending with 1959-1969, the book discusses expertly the main surrealist artists like Jean Arp, Max Ernst, Ren Magritte, Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dali and Joan Miro, but also treats with considerable understanding the surrealist writing by Louis Aragon, Paul Eluard, Robert Desnos, Julien Gracq and, of course, the so-called "Pope of Surrealism," Andr Breton.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This change of emphasis reflects a very academic view of surrealism, one that does not necessarily get caught up in some of the more famous surrealist troubles, and instead wants to take us inside Breton's world and reconstruct what was significant for his inner circle."
"Excellent resource for studying surrealism."
"Great book that needs to be read over time."
"This book is awesome."
"I'm keeping this simple -- here's an art book where the text and editorial content matches the illustrations in terms of quality and awesome-osity."
"La voz de Durozoi. es ese soplo. de aire sahariano. que hacía falta. a la historiografía. del Surrealismo. en todas sus variantes: el pincel de nubes, el beso petrificado. y los alaridos elegíacos. que sueltan las sirenas. (esos cisnes de agua salada). al caer en las redes. de los sonámbulos."
"the book came quickly to me and it is new, with the plastic protection unopened."
Best Modernism Literary Criticism
In this dizzyingly rich novel of ideas, Mann uses a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps--a community devoted exclusively to sickness--as a microcosm for Europe, which in the years before 1914 was already exhibiting the first symptoms of its own terminal irrationality. “[Woods’s translation] succeeds in capturing the beautiful cadence of [Mann’s] ironically elegant prose.” – Washington Post Book World.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The protagonist, Hans Castorp, is Mann's bourgeois Everyman, and it's wonderful haw a powerhouse intellectual like Mann can create a sympathetic but also mediocre hero who stumbles through a series of awakenings (and drowsings) on top of a mountain. The Magic Mountain is also very much of its era."
"It provides a clear view of pre-war Europe with its changing mores and budding inventions of the times, and the odd seeming methods of treating tuberculosis in the thin cold air of the Alps before the advent of antibiotics."
"My most favorite book of of all time."
"the plot can be a little slow at times, but it is definitely very painterly and artisitc."
"The book was a welcome addition to reading and interpretation of The Magic Mountain."
"This is a brilliant work by an important author and I am so happy to see it in a kindle edition!"
Best Modern Literary Criticism
"On what slender threads do life and fortune hang" Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. Robin Buss (1939–2006) was a writer and translator who worked for the Independent on Sunday and as television critic for the Times Educational Supplement .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Material previously omitted by Victorian-era translators such as Franz' hashish-fueled sexual fantasies and the strongly implied lesbian relationship between Eugenie and Louise remain intact and uncensored. As another reviewer pointed out, Buss will provide footnotes to explain subtleties that aren't easily translated from French to English, such as insults delivered by using the formal you (vous) rather than the informal/friendly/intimate you (tu). A detailed appendix provides valuable historical and cultural context that aids the reader in understanding Dumas' masterpiece, and includes a primer on the rise, fall, return, and final downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte that is crucial to making sense of the politics driving the novel's plot."
"My husband ranks it up there as one of his top favorite movies, but aside from the brief sword fight and “Can we come up?” scene in V for Vendetta, I really had no reference point–I thought it was all about dueling. When I read The Black Count, though, and found out why Alexandre Dumas wrote CoMC–I knew I had to move it up the list. I found the characterization ridiculous and irregularly detailed, and I didn’t understand why we couldn’t just get to the point and action. Also, I learned in The Black Count that one of the most important things in the world to Dumas was never to forget a person, the way he felt his father was forgotten."
"The book does a great job of portraying the setting and the characters, to a point that it felt more like reading a description of a landscape painting."
Best Postmodernism Literary Criticism
Considered an essential text since its publication thirty-five years ago, this guide for students and practitioners of both theater and literature complements, rather than contradicts or repeats, traditional methods of literary analysis of scripts. “In fewer than one hundred pages, this marvelously instructive book shows how to unlock the secrets of plot, character, theme, exposition, imagery, motivation, conflict, theatricality and pacing. Our editor says he learned more about dramatic structure in the few hours he spent with this ninety-six-page book than he has in his twenty years of theater experience.”— Stage Directions. Accessible to those both new to and familiar with script analysis, Ball's text paves the way for rich discussion and meaning making in the classroom and on stage.”— Elizabeth Horn , assistant professor of theatre, University of Central Florida. “David Ball's brilliantly conceived and written book is a valuable asset in all of my scripting classes. One of the strengths of the book is its ability to get students from such diverse backgrounds and levels of experience to work together and get on the same page.”— Richie Call, Utah State University. “Indispensable in my directing classes, this slender little volume contains an elusive mix of uncommon clarity, bracing provocation, and immediate usefulness. Never one to linger on his own cleverness, Ball makes an immediate case for action and propulsion in both script analysis and theatrical production. “David Ball's little tome may have been written for directors of theater, but I find its practical and straightforward manner in explaining how to read a script essential for writers. And so do their teachers.”— David Feldshuh, Cornell University. “ Backwards and Forwards is a brilliant, unique, and influential book. I have used it for many years in my work as a professional actor and director, as well as in the classroom when teaching directing and play analysis.”— Harold Dixon, distinguished professor emeritus, School of Theatre Arts, University of Arizona. “It's extremely rare that you will read a book and it changes your perspective on not only what you do creatively but also how you do what you do. The book’s deceptively simple, straightforward approach to play analysis not only is timeless but also continues to provide me with fresh insights as both a scholar and a practitioner.”— Inga Meier, Stephen F. Austin University. “In less than one hundred pages Backwards and Forwards has taught me more about theatre than any other book. I have used it faithfully as the key reference text guiding student actors through in-depth analyses of the classics of world theatre.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book does a very good job of breaking everything in a play down."
"I needed it for a class and borrowed it from the library, however, after reading it found it so helpful I bought it from Amazon."
"Great resource for learning how to analyze a play."
"Essential for directors, playwrights, and really anyone else who reads and works on plays."
"Great for the beginner who is getting into writing and reading various plays."
"Excellent for playwrights, script writers, fiction and non-fiction writers."
"It was a great book however I hated how the book took forever in arriving by mail, it actually arrived like two week after the due date."
"Some good instruction for reading plays, especially Shakespeare, to get the most out of them."
Best Beat Generation Criticism
This version, capturing a moment in creative history, represents the first full expression of Kerouac’s revolutionary aesthetic. Pulsating with the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz, sex, illicit drugs, and the mystery and promise of the open road, Kerouac's classic novel of freedom and longing defined what it meant to be "beat" and has inspired generations of writers, musicians, artists, poets, and seekers who cite their discovery of the book as the event that "set them free." From the back cover of On the Road: The Original Scroll : Jack Kerouac displaying one of his later scroll manuscripts, most likely The Dharma Bums Kerouac's map of his first hitchhiking trip, July-October 1947 (click image to see the full map). Original New York Times review of On the Road (click image to see the full review). --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"An epic love poem and American Odyssey with the stature and spirit of Whiman’s ‘Leaves Of Grass.’ Written in the late forties it lays the path followed by many of my generation in the sixties."
"LOVED IT!"
"It was also wonderful to read the in-depth information in advance of getting eyes on the actual scroll."
"It is basically a love poem to the America of open spaces and open minds."
"It's a soft cover, so not a book you want to keep for years on end."
"If he was looking for something, I'm not sure he found it: which may be the point."
"Twisting, winding and outright weird were the travels of Sal Paradise."
"It's a classic, worth reading!"
Best Arthurian Romance Criticism
No other edition accurately represents the actual (and likely authorial) divisions of the text as attested to by its two surviving witnesses―Caxton’s 1485 print and, especially, the famous Winchester Manuscript. Stephen H. A. Shepherd is Associate Professor of English at Loyola Marymount University.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: I'm sure there are any number of more pleasurable books of which one could listen to audio versions, but sometimes it's good to buckle down and get acquainted with something that boasts more historical relevance than literary value."
"In possession of a physical copy of the Norton edition, albeit sadly on another continent, I know that this text is not in fact the same as presented in that book."
"It is a very careful, scholarly edition, and...well...Malory is Malory."
"Baines, a poet, creates what I'd consider to be the definitive modern translation of Mallory's work for the casual reader."
"No need to recap its contents here; the stories are familiar through retelling by Twain, Steinbeck, T. E White, and others, and by films. A handwritten manuscript by a dead author, a first printing, and a new mechanical printing technology made possible many errors. Lumiansky managed a less awkward reorganization of chapters, cleaned up misprints, substituted modern spelling, added quotation marks for direct speech, and replaced obsolete words with modern equivalents."