THE ILIAD - Homer
Published by Vintage Classics on 25th February is the new translation by Caroline Alexander of Homer’s epic The Iliad.
The result of three thousand years of story-telling, Homer’s epic tale of the fall of Troy has resonated with every age and every human conflict: this is The Iliad at its most electrifying and vital. A story of enduring power; magnetic characters defined by stirring and momentous speeches; a panorama of human lives locked in a heroic struggle beneath a mischievous or indifferent heaven. Above all, this is a tale of the devastation, waste and pity of war.
The jacket shows an engraving of fighting lions after Heywood Hardy. Men fighting like lions is a recurring simile in the poem so the engraving is an appropriate and compelling image for the book. The title of the engraving is perfectly apposite: Fierce as conflicting fires the combat burns…
