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Book Cover for: The Iliad, Homer

The Iliad

Homer

Reader Score

81%

81% of readers

recommend this book

Critic Reviews

Great

Based on 9 reviews on

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

The Iliad roars with the clamor of arms, the bellowing boasts of victors, the fury and grief of loss, and the anguished cries of dying men. It sings, too, of the sublime magnitude of the world--the fierce beauty of nature and the gods' grand schemes beyond the ken of mortals. In Wilson's hands, this thrilling, magical, and often horrifying tale now gallops at a pace befitting its legendary battle scenes, in crisp but resonant language that evokes the poem's deep pathos and reveals palpably real, even "complicated," characters--both human and divine.

The culmination of a decade of intense engagement with antiquity's most surpassingly beautiful and emotionally complex poetry, Wilson's Iliad now gives us a complete Homer for our generation.

Book Details

  • Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
  • Publish Date: Aug 6th, 2024
  • Pages: 848
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.17in - 5.73in - 1.50in - 1.83lb
  • EAN: 9781324076148
  • Categories: ClassicsHistorical - AncientAction & Adventure

About the Author

Wilson, Emily: - Emily Wilson is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been named a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome in Renaissance and early modern studies, a MacArthur Fellow, and a Guggenheim Fellow. In addition to Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, she has also published translations of Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca. She lives in Philadelphia.

Critics’ reviews

Praise for this book

Emily Wilson's translation of the Iliad brings Homer's great war story to rousing new life....propulsive....buoyant and expressive.--Natalie Haynes "New York Times Book Review"
Readable, relevant and from the heart, this is the Iliad we have all been waiting for, whether we knew it or not.--Naoíse Mac Sweeney "Washington Post"
Masterful...A bloody tale of ancient war and grief comes to vibrant life in modern-day English. Wilson has again presented a Homer that sings.-- "Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"