Due to a lack of biographical evidence regarding the identity of Homer it has been suggested that the two great works attributed to him, the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" may in fact be the work of multiple authors passed down through a long oral tradition. While scholarship on the subject will likely never definitely prove one way or the other, it is now generally accepted that these two great epic poems are the work of a single Greek author, Homer,...

The first great adventure story in the Western canon, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty and power; about marriage, family and identity; and about travellers, hospitality and the changing meanings of home in a strange world. This vivid new translation - the first by a woman - matches the number of lines in the Greek original, striding at Homer's sprightly pace. Emily Wilson employs elemental, resonant...