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The Iliad

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The Iliad

By: Homer, Emily Wilson - translator
Narrated by: Audra McDonald
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About this listen

2024 Audie Award Winner for Literary Fiction & Classics

When Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey appeared in 2017―rendering the ancient poem in contemporary language that was “fresh, unpretentious and lean” (Madeline Miller, Washington Post)―critics lauded it as “a revelation” (Susan Chira, New York Times) and “a cultural landmark” (Charlotte Higgins, Guardian) that would forever change how Homer is read in English. Now Wilson has returned with an equally revelatory translation of Homer’s other great epic―the most revered war poem of all time.

Brought to life in vivid audio form, this crisp verse translation of The Iliad roars with the clamor of arms, the bellowing boasts of victors, the fury and grief of loss, and the anguished cries of dying men. It sings, too, of the sublime magnitude of the world―the fierce beauty of nature and deities’ grand schemes beyond the ken of mortals.

Wilson’s musical iambic pentameter verse is brought to life in the evocative voice of narrator and Broadway legend Audra McDonald. In her thrilling reading, this magical and often horrifying tale gallops at a pace befitting its legendary battle scenes. The culmination of a decade of intense engagement with antiquity’s most surpassingly beautiful and emotionally complex poetry, Wilson’s Iliad now gives us a complete Homer for our generation.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Emily Wilson (Translation) (P)2023 Audible, Inc.
Epic Poetry

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superb translation and performance - I shut my eyes and transport to Troy, also listened to odyssey same author, equally superb

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Legendary

A veritable time captule from a time when brass was more useful than iron. Can't wait for the sequel!

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Really thoughtful translation and an interesting window into history

Honestly at times the Iliad is a big of a slog and not just when they list 600 ships but getting the detail lineage of every person killed in battle can be exhausting. Once you get past the differences to modern story telling and really get into it then it really becomes a fantastic tail of mortality - this version also has an amazing foreword/translators note that really set the stage for

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pretentious drivel

Terrible choice of narrator, hours of fever dream left wing acadamic revisionist nonsense before the story begins. Translator should have spent more time telling a good story than trying to win art prizes for "dreamiest high brow word salad in a classical setting".

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