The Odyssey

By: Homer

Narrated by: Ian McKellen

The Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of every man's journey through life. In the myths and legends that are retold here, the energy and poetry of Homer's original is captured in a bold, contemporary idiom, giving us an edition of The Odyssey that is a joy to listen to, worth savoring treasuring for its sheer lyrical mastery. This audiobook is sure to delight both the classicist and the general reader, and to captivate a new generation of Homer's students.(P) and ©1996 Penguin Books USA Inc.

Critic reviews

“[Robert Fitzgerald’s translation is] a masterpiece . . . An Odyssey worthy of the original.” –The Nation

“[Fitzgerald’s Odyssey and Iliad] open up once more the unique greatness of Homer’s art at the level above the formula; yet at the same time they do not neglect the brilliant texture of Homeric verse at the level of the line and the phrase.” –The Yale Review

“[In] Robert Fitzgerald’s translation . . . there is no anxious straining after mighty effects, but rather a constant readiness for what the occasion demands, a kind of Odyssean adequacy to the task in hand, and this line-by-line vigilance builds up into a completely credible imagined world.”
–from the Introduction by Seamus Heaney

Oh McKellen!!!!

His voice is like honey and thunder and velvet all rolled into one.....studied Homer at school....would have been so much better with Sir Ian reading it to me

incredible narration for a classic text

Sir Ian mckellen: there are no words. this must be what it sounded like to hear it from the old spoken word poets who carried this oral tradition. thank you.

Fantastic in every respect

Except variable audio quality. In some places the recording is muffled and there is a slight echo.

Great translation, great reading, strange audio quality

The Odyssey is a classic. There is nothing more to say in that regard. And Ian McKellan is a splendid reader. Everything I could want in an audio version of this superb translation of a great classic.

The only critique I have of this recording is that the 24 books of the work and the 24 chapters of the recording do not align for some reason, likely a remnant of pre-MP3 days. Therefore, breaks come oddly in the middle of the story, and not at the more natural conclusion of each book. No big deal, however, the audio quality varies between chapters, and McKellan's voice rises and lowers in pitch. This is strange and I wish the publisher would revisit the recording and make it smoother.

Okay

Fairly irritating narration, but obviously good story. Something about McKellen's tone was distasteful and aggravating.