Homer's the Iliad and the Odyssey by Alberto Manguel

Homer's the Iliad and the Odyssey by Alberto Manguel

While it is unknown if there ever was a man named Homer, there is no doubt that the epic poems assembled under his name form the cornerstone of Western literature, feeding our imagination for over two and a half millennia. The Iliad and The Odyssey, with their tales of the Trojan War, Achilles, Ulysses and Penelope, the Sirens, the Cyclops, Helen of Troy, and the petulant gods, are familiar to most readers because they are so pervasive. From Plato to Virgil, Pope to Joyce, the poems have been told and retold, interpreted and embellished. In this graceful and sweeping book, Alberto Manguel traces the lineage of the poems from their inception and first recording. He considers the original purpose of the poems--either as allegory of philosophical truth or as a record of historical truth--surveys the challenges the pagan Homer presented to the early Christian world, and maps the spread of the works around the world and through the centuries. Manguel follows Homer through the greatest literature ever created and, above all, delights in the poems themselves.

Alberto Manguel is a renowned anthologist, translator, essayist, novelist, and editor who has worked all over the world. For his bestselling and much-loved A History of Reading, he was recently awarded France's Prix Médicis. The Dictionary of Imaginary Places, published by Knopf Canada, is being reissued this fall.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780871139764
ISBN 10	0871139766
Title	Homer's the Iliad and the Odyssey
Author	Alberto Manguel
Series	Books That Changed The World
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
Year published	2007-12-21
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.