The Iliad
By Robert Fitzgerald & Homer
- Release Date: 2004-04-03
- Genre: Poetry
Description
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.
-Lines 1-6
Since it was first published more than twenty-five years ago, Robert Fitzgerald's prizewinning translation of Homer's battle epic has become a classic in its own right: a standard against which all other versions of The Iliad are compared. Fitzgerald's work is accessible, ironic, faithful, written in a swift vernacular blank verse that "makes Homer live as never before" (Library Journal).
This edition includes a new foreword by Andrew Ford.
Reviews
Definitive translation
5By QuantumdigitThe Fitzgerald translation has been considered one of the best for nearly three decades. Why one reviewer would give it only two stars without even reading it is beyond me.Great
5By SPTraskBest translation available.Dissatisfying Sample
2By johnavneDear FSG, Publisher, I was considering purchasing this ebook of Fitzgerald's Iliad, but your sample did not include a single line from the actual text (though there were a few paragraphs scattered throughout the lengthy introduction), and so I have no way of evaluating the actual content of the work for its suitability to my taste. Note, I would not be buying this ebook for the introduction. While I could walk to a local bookstore or library to hunt for a physical copy of the translation, so I can determine whether the style is more readable than Lattimore's yet more accurate than Fagles's, I thought you ought to be made aware of how difficult you've made it for me to gauge the value of your ebook. Regards, Dissatisfied Potential Customer P.S. Harper Collins' Lattimore translation of the Odyssey provides a generous sample of the first book in its "sample" of that e-publication.
