Monday, February 26, 2018

THE ODYSSEY: A MODERN SEQUEL



Greek edition of The Odyssey: A Modern Translation by Nikos Kazantzakis (1938) and translated into English by Kimon Friar (1958).

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After simultaneously reading The Iliad by Homer (translated by Caroline Alexander); War Music: An Account of Homer's Iliad by Christopher Logue; and Memorial: A Version of Homer's Iliad, I decided I needed to head in a different direction for a bit. It was primarily prompted by the fact that I'm having battlefield nightmares in the patches of sleep I've been getting on recent nights filled with reading and insomnia and more reading and more insomnia. Considering that I don't typically remember my dreams and that these were rather vivid, I thought I would delve back into the tales of Odysseus and away from the plain of Troy.

I remembered that I have a copy of The Odyssey: A Modern Translation by Nikos Kazantzakis, a book I found in a used book store in 2015, for just a few dollars.

I haven't read it yet, instead using it for the occasional bibliomantic "divination" and the beautiful lines I encounter when randomly opening its pages. But now is the time to take the plunge and add another book influenced and inspired by the work of Homer to my current "cutting in" reading project.

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