A fresh and exciting approach to this great work of classical literature Henry Power provides an overview of the whole poem, key extracts from the text and detailed commentary of crucial moments in the poem. Readers are encouraged to consider both the oral origins and the rich literary reception of this early epic whilst responding to core themes within it. Key Features * Aimed at new readers coming to the poem for the first time and those teaching it at universities alike * Includes innovative teaching strategies for engaging students with the poem

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Note on the text Series Editors' Preface 1. Mapping and Making The Odyssey as an Epic Poem The Odyssey and the Iliad The Metre Setting Summary 2. Introduction: Four ways of approaching the poem 3. Selections from the Odyssey Book I: Telemachos and Athene Book VI: Odysseus and Nausikaa Book IX: Odysseus as Storyteller: Polyphemos Book XIII: Return to Ithaka Book XXIII: Odysseus and Penelope 4. Contexts for Reading Oral Poetry and the Homeric Question Some Views of Homer The Odyssey in English Translation Literary Responses The Odyssey and Epic Poetry The Odyssey and the Novel 5. Teaching the Text 6. Suggested Further Reading References Index

About the Author

Dr Henry Power is Lecturer in English at the University of Exeter. He completed his PhD in English at St. Catharine's College, University of Cambridge on 'Tom Jones, Appetite, and the Epic Tradition' in 2005. He has published scholarly articles in Translation and Literature, the Review of English Studies and the Cambridge Quarterly.