Synopses & Reviews
In this new verse adaptation, originally commissioned for BBC radio, Simon Armitage has recast Homer's epic as a series of bristling dramatic dialogues: between gods and men; between no-nonsense Captain Odysseus and his unruly, lotus-eating, homesick companions; and between subtle Odysseus (wiliest hero of antiquity) and a range of shape-shifting adversaries'"Calypso, Circe, the Sirens, the Cyclops'"as he and his men are "pinballed between islands" of adversity. One of the most individual voices of his generation, Armitage revitalizes our sense of the Odysseyas oral poetry, as indeed one of the greatest of tall tales.
Synopsis
In this new verse adaptation, originally commissioned for BBC radio, Simon Armitage has recast Homer's epic as a series of bristling dramatic dialogues: between gods and men; between no-nonsense Captain Odysseus and his unruly, lotus-eating, homesick companions; and between subtle Odysseus (wiliest hero of antiquity) and a range of shape-shifting adversaries--Calypso, Circe, the Sirens, the Cyclops--as he and his men are "pinballed between islands" of adversity. One of the most individual voices of his generation, Armitage revitalizes our sense of the as oral poetry, as indeed one of the greatest of tall tales.
Synopsis
"Armitage has given an ageless story new vigor, and has done it with style, wit and elegance."--
About the Author
The award-winning Simon Armitage has published ten volumes of poetry. His translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was covered on the front page of the New York Times Book Review. He lives in Yorkshire, England.