The Lost Books of the Odyssey
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Review
`...dazzling debute... witty, playful, moving, tirelessly inventive... captures the spirit of the Odyssey... at the same time feels freshly contemporary' --The New York Times
`Subtle, inventive and moving.' --John Banville
`Compelling...You'll return to the classics with fresh eyes.' --San Francisco Chronicle
'Mason ungrounds the Odyssey, often gorgeously, turning Homer's twisting tale into a sermon on indeterminacy... a wondrous pleasure to read.' --The Los Angeles Times
`Ingenious... jubilant in execution.' --Boston Globe
'Spellbinding. Mason twists and jinks, renegotiating the journey to Ithaca with all the guile and trickery of Odysseus himself.' --Simon Armitage
'always the alternate universe is created with amazing invention, a poet's gift for a resonant image' -- Word
'Mason brilliantly reveals a hero...more ambiguous than in Homer's original and an ancient world beset by 21st century uncertainty -- FT
"[The Odyssey} is thus peculiarly suitable to the treatment that Zachary Mason gives it in his impressive debut novel" -- Guardian
Mason's book is a small triumph...the invention on display is beguiling. -- Sunday Times, Andrew Holgate
Mason impressively maintains both his control and his creative vigour. -- Sunday Times, Andrew Holgate
[Mason] offers the reader a book of intellectual fireworks that also manages to be wonderfully entertaining. -- Sunday Times, Andrew Holgate
'What cannot be stressed enough is the simplicity and control of the verbal texture of the book.' -- Times Literary Suplement
"What cannot be stressed enough is the simplicity and control of the verbal texture of the book." --Times Literary Suplement
`The spirit of Borges stalks Mason's satisfying and inventive collection of 44 linked stories'. --The Sunday Times
a beautiful retelling of passages from Homer.
--The Observer
`Subtle, inventive and moving.' --John Banville
`Compelling...You'll return to the classics with fresh eyes.' --San Francisco Chronicle
'Mason ungrounds the Odyssey, often gorgeously, turning Homer's twisting tale into a sermon on indeterminacy... a wondrous pleasure to read.' --The Los Angeles Times
`Ingenious... jubilant in execution.' --Boston Globe
'Spellbinding. Mason twists and jinks, renegotiating the journey to Ithaca with all the guile and trickery of Odysseus himself.' --Simon Armitage
'always the alternate universe is created with amazing invention, a poet's gift for a resonant image' -- Word
'Mason brilliantly reveals a hero...more ambiguous than in Homer's original and an ancient world beset by 21st century uncertainty -- FT
"[The Odyssey} is thus peculiarly suitable to the treatment that Zachary Mason gives it in his impressive debut novel" -- Guardian
Mason's book is a small triumph...the invention on display is beguiling. -- Sunday Times, Andrew Holgate
Mason impressively maintains both his control and his creative vigour. -- Sunday Times, Andrew Holgate
[Mason] offers the reader a book of intellectual fireworks that also manages to be wonderfully entertaining. -- Sunday Times, Andrew Holgate
'What cannot be stressed enough is the simplicity and control of the verbal texture of the book.' -- Times Literary Suplement
"What cannot be stressed enough is the simplicity and control of the verbal texture of the book." --Times Literary Suplement
`The spirit of Borges stalks Mason's satisfying and inventive collection of 44 linked stories'. --The Sunday Times
a beautiful retelling of passages from Homer.
--The Observer
Book Description
An extraordinary imagining of episodes, fragments and revisions of Homer's Odyssey, a book destined to become a modern classic.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A collection of alternative versions of Homer's "The Odyssey". Clever, innovative, beautifully written and interesting, particularly for lovers of the Classics.
Zachary Mason suggests that Homer's "Odyssey" was merely one particular ordering of the events of Odysseus' return to Ithaca after the Trojan War. "Echoes of other Odysseys", he suggests exist, including a 44-episode variation in a "pre-Ptolomeic papyrus excavated from the desiccated rubbish mounds of Oxyrhnchus" and this is what is "translated" here. So we are presented with these 44 often very short stories that reconstruct elements of the Odyssey in a kind of alternate reality, asking "what if it were slightly different", and what emerges is a non-linear, mosaic of stories. If Homer had decided to present his book in DVD format, these would be in the "extras" of alternative "takes" on things. The result is like a jazz riff on the original stories.
Even if you are not intimately acquainted with the original "Odyssey" of the worst commute home from work until the M25 was built, you will probably be familiar with some of the imagery and stories. There's Penelope waiting for her husband's return, the Cyclopes, the Sirens attracting sailors to their death on treacherous rocks. Well, they're all here but each tale is slightly altered or viewed from a different angle. I confess that my last encounter with the original was at school and a detailed knowledge of the "Odyssey" is not absolutely necessary to appreciate this book, although I suspect the more you know, the more you will appreciate this book. Certainly some passing familiarity with the story would be advantageous.
Mason effectively and cleverly writes in a very similar style to the Homeric epic. It's episodic, poetic, often beautifully written but with an added dry humour. In the very first chapter I was completely charmed by Odysseus' return home after his 20-year journey, noticing that a gate had been mended in his absence which struck me as particularly poignant. There are several such instances throughout the book. In the same chapter, he goes on to note that seeing Penelope "without the eyes of a homecoming, only an echo of her beauty remains".
We are presented with several conflicting versions of events - in one story Odysseus marries Helen rather than her sister Penelope, and in several he returns home to find different scenarios. In one story, Homer himself makes an appearance.
I would not have been at all surprised to find that Mason was a Classical scholar, but remarkably he is a computer scientist and this his is his first book.
However, for all its qualities, I found the short length of most of the pieces ultimately a little frustrating. I can understand the desire to replicate the episodic style of Homer, but it means that it lacks much to `get your teeth into' and I began to weary of the clever riffs. And the use of footnotes is peculiar. There are not that many of them, but it seemed to me that it needed either more to illustrate the variations from the original story, or less to stand alone as a work that didn't need explanation. The result is neither one thing nor the other.
If you have enjoyed this book, then I'd highly recommend David Malouf's Ransom which re-visits "The Iliad" too. The other book it put me in mind of is John Banville's The Infinities.
Zachary Mason suggests that Homer's "Odyssey" was merely one particular ordering of the events of Odysseus' return to Ithaca after the Trojan War. "Echoes of other Odysseys", he suggests exist, including a 44-episode variation in a "pre-Ptolomeic papyrus excavated from the desiccated rubbish mounds of Oxyrhnchus" and this is what is "translated" here. So we are presented with these 44 often very short stories that reconstruct elements of the Odyssey in a kind of alternate reality, asking "what if it were slightly different", and what emerges is a non-linear, mosaic of stories. If Homer had decided to present his book in DVD format, these would be in the "extras" of alternative "takes" on things. The result is like a jazz riff on the original stories.
Even if you are not intimately acquainted with the original "Odyssey" of the worst commute home from work until the M25 was built, you will probably be familiar with some of the imagery and stories. There's Penelope waiting for her husband's return, the Cyclopes, the Sirens attracting sailors to their death on treacherous rocks. Well, they're all here but each tale is slightly altered or viewed from a different angle. I confess that my last encounter with the original was at school and a detailed knowledge of the "Odyssey" is not absolutely necessary to appreciate this book, although I suspect the more you know, the more you will appreciate this book. Certainly some passing familiarity with the story would be advantageous.
Mason effectively and cleverly writes in a very similar style to the Homeric epic. It's episodic, poetic, often beautifully written but with an added dry humour. In the very first chapter I was completely charmed by Odysseus' return home after his 20-year journey, noticing that a gate had been mended in his absence which struck me as particularly poignant. There are several such instances throughout the book. In the same chapter, he goes on to note that seeing Penelope "without the eyes of a homecoming, only an echo of her beauty remains".
We are presented with several conflicting versions of events - in one story Odysseus marries Helen rather than her sister Penelope, and in several he returns home to find different scenarios. In one story, Homer himself makes an appearance.
I would not have been at all surprised to find that Mason was a Classical scholar, but remarkably he is a computer scientist and this his is his first book.
However, for all its qualities, I found the short length of most of the pieces ultimately a little frustrating. I can understand the desire to replicate the episodic style of Homer, but it means that it lacks much to `get your teeth into' and I began to weary of the clever riffs. And the use of footnotes is peculiar. There are not that many of them, but it seemed to me that it needed either more to illustrate the variations from the original story, or less to stand alone as a work that didn't need explanation. The result is neither one thing nor the other.
If you have enjoyed this book, then I'd highly recommend David Malouf's Ransom which re-visits "The Iliad" too. The other book it put me in mind of is John Banville's The Infinities.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Zachary Mason's "Lost Books of the Odyssey" is beautifully presented, outside and in.
I didn't read the tales in order. Someone else reviewing them bemoaned the brevity of so many of the pieces, but I loved the clean, stripped sharpness of each episode. The author preserved just enough of the feel of formula and epithet of epic without labouring those characteristics. In any case, to do so might have dulled the originality of the collection, or made it seem merely some sort of pastiche.
In taking away some of the elements the ancients valued, Mr Mason adds dimensions of personality. Greek heroes are often uninteresting in their one-dimensional consistency, but Odysseus here is complex and ambiguous and (!) likeable.
I'm sure all keen readers go through spells when they read just because it's what they do, but long for a book that enraptures and engages and requires a real effort of will power to put down so that there will still be some of its joys to enjoy later. They do come along every now and again.
This is most certainly one of them.
It's not the Odyssey, nor does it try to be, but it's a tribute and an ornament to its inspiration.
I didn't read the tales in order. Someone else reviewing them bemoaned the brevity of so many of the pieces, but I loved the clean, stripped sharpness of each episode. The author preserved just enough of the feel of formula and epithet of epic without labouring those characteristics. In any case, to do so might have dulled the originality of the collection, or made it seem merely some sort of pastiche.
In taking away some of the elements the ancients valued, Mr Mason adds dimensions of personality. Greek heroes are often uninteresting in their one-dimensional consistency, but Odysseus here is complex and ambiguous and (!) likeable.
I'm sure all keen readers go through spells when they read just because it's what they do, but long for a book that enraptures and engages and requires a real effort of will power to put down so that there will still be some of its joys to enjoy later. They do come along every now and again.
This is most certainly one of them.
It's not the Odyssey, nor does it try to be, but it's a tribute and an ornament to its inspiration.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A blurb from Harry Mathews (on the back of my US edition, plus Armitage, Banville and a certain Carole Maso) is not to be sneezed at, and how Zachary Mason pulls it off I'll never know, but this is a consummate achievement, both serious and beautiful, Homeric and contemporary, not so much a sequel as a series of riffs or 'alternate takes'. Mason's mastery of tone rarely slips (sussing out, stymies, white noise, gelled: 'some parts of the tale have gelled over the years') and you don't have to have read Calvino or Sebald before venturing on this trip.
Having said that, it's not an easy read, still less a sequential one. To be taken slowly, over time. Try #15, #26 or the longer (all of 18 small pages) #18. David Eagleman's Sum - like Mason he's from a non-literary (scientific) background - is the last book I know to attempt something as quirky, concentrated and courageous. (Though not for some. I particularly liked Chedchenko's comment on Sum 'To be honest, the Bible's probably a better read and I'm an Atheist!' amongst 4 v/e/r/y perceptive ** reviews - plus mine.) Mason speaks for our age; Eagleman's merely of it.
And to those who complain it's episodic - fractured, even - well, 'The Odyssey: A Sequel' would be absurd. Of course, neither is it 'a novel' (that's just the author's little joke - and what else is a novel, after all, but collusion?); it is a Late Imperial take on the Age of Heroism. The Minotaur? 'Just another victim.' And I know we were never promised a rose garden, but this gets only 4.5 stars because it leaves you with a somewhat heavy heart; an astonishing debut nonetheless
Having said that, it's not an easy read, still less a sequential one. To be taken slowly, over time. Try #15, #26 or the longer (all of 18 small pages) #18. David Eagleman's Sum - like Mason he's from a non-literary (scientific) background - is the last book I know to attempt something as quirky, concentrated and courageous. (Though not for some. I particularly liked Chedchenko's comment on Sum 'To be honest, the Bible's probably a better read and I'm an Atheist!' amongst 4 v/e/r/y perceptive ** reviews - plus mine.) Mason speaks for our age; Eagleman's merely of it.
And to those who complain it's episodic - fractured, even - well, 'The Odyssey: A Sequel' would be absurd. Of course, neither is it 'a novel' (that's just the author's little joke - and what else is a novel, after all, but collusion?); it is a Late Imperial take on the Age of Heroism. The Minotaur? 'Just another victim.' And I know we were never promised a rose garden, but this gets only 4.5 stars because it leaves you with a somewhat heavy heart; an astonishing debut nonetheless
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A playful reimagining of Homer
I cannot recommend this highly enough. A playful, clever, moving, witty and dazzling reimagining of the world of Homer, Greek myth and the nature of fiction itself. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mercutio
Post Modern and the Oral Tradition
A brilliant idea - to write "lost" chapters of the Odyssesy - pithy and witty short stories in their own right, which draw on the recognised cast and stock ideas of Homer, but... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Gregorio
good but hyped
Yes it's easy to read, has some fun playing around with Odysseus and his misadventures, and brings a new perspective on some of the better known stories. Read more
Published 10 months ago by sora
Confusing and arrogant - opportunity missed
I loved The Odyssey when I read it many years ago as an eighteen year old, but have not returned to it since. Read more
Published 15 months ago by J. Coulton
not standard but even better
Freshly contemporary, the 44 books invented by Zachary Mason - an author not less cunning than Odysseus himself - are short stories when compared to the 24 original (on average... Read more
Published 18 months ago by trapetaph
good reads
An excellent collection of short stories, which are an elaboration of the
original book of Homer. Read more
original book of Homer. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Ms. Anne Renwick
a wonderful series of diversions
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is intellectually stimulating and emotionally engaging. Mason's seemingly unlimited inventiveness is compelling, and makes reading the novel a... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Rosie Pose
A Great Summer Read!
Although this book is not yet as well-known in the UK as in the US, I'd like to copy what some of the media have to say about it:
Adam Mansbach in The New York Times:... Read more
Adam Mansbach in The New York Times:... Read more
Published 24 months ago by _Helena_
"I saw myself how my wit exceeded that of other men..."
Unlike the Odyssey translations by poets Robert Fitzgerald and Richmond Lattimore, Zachary Mason's newly published version of The Odyssey takes a post-modernist approach--casual,... Read more
Published on 28 Jan 2010 by Mary Whipple
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