"The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" are perhaps the most influential works in the history of western literature. This exquisite analysis of their creation and influence establishes how, precisely, these two poems, written nearly three thousand years ago, have come to resonate throughout the world.Alberto Manguel is an internationally acclaimed author. His book is a vigorous and timely analysis of Homer's seminal poetry. Penguin Classics editions of "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" have sold over 30,000 copies in the last year. Rights have been sold in 15 countries. Each volume is a beautifully designed and produced B-format hardback at GBP 12.99.The stories of the Trojan war and Helen of Troy, Patrolcus and Achilles, the Sirens and the Cyclops are embedded in western culture, yet readers often fail to recognise that they were made famous by two epic poems, "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey", and one blind poet: Homer.Starting with their inception in ancient Greece, Homer's "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" demonstrates these poems reverberate through the western canon, from the Rome of Virgil and Horace to Joyce's Dublin and Derek Walcott's Carribean, via Dante and Racine. In this lyrical and graceful book, Alberto Manguel delights in the original poems and celebrates their presence throughout history. Reviews "* 'Alberto Manguel is to reading what Casanova was to sex.' Scotland on Sunday * 'Atlantic Books has achieved a publishing coup with its 'Books that Shook the World' series... short biographies of great books, securing the best people to write them and ensuring that the remit to produce compendious, clear and engaged accounts... this series is a big success.' A. C. Grayling, The Times" About the Author Alberto Manguel is a world-renowned writer, translator and editor of literary anthologies. His works include A History of Reading, published in 1997 and his novel, Stevenson Under the Palm Trees in 2005. |
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