Homer - The Odyssey (Fagles trans.) Read by Sir Ian McKellen

This new translation by award-winning translator Robert Fagles captures the energy of Homer's original in bold, contemporary idiom. This is an Odyssey to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery. The great adventure story tells of Odysseus, a veteran of the Trojan War, who - through a landscape peopled with monsters, sea nymphs, evil enchantresses, and vengeful gods - makes his tortuous way home to his faithful wife, Penelope. Shipwrecked numerous times, faced with apparently insurmountable obstacles, offered the temptations of ease, comfort, and even immortality, Odysseus remains steadfast and determined. Themes of courage and perseverance, fidelity and fortitude are woven into the rich tapestry of danger, disaster, and ultimate triumph. Written by the blind poet, Homer, in the 8th century B.C., The Odyssey is the foundation for modern European literature. It is read by Ian McKellen, one of the most highly acclaimed actors in the English-speaking world.

(P) and ©1996 Penguin Books USA Inc.

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Uploader notes for The Odyssey by Homer; Fagles trans.:

-Removed the musical tracks that were included at the end of (most of) the CD's, with the exception of the beginning of book 1, and the end of book 24.

-I ripped the original 11 CD's and pieced them together in BOOK form with GoldWave. There are 24 books to the Odyssey, so there are 24 tracks. I put this together because there is currently an active torrent of this version of the Odyssey which, sadly, is missing parts of it's audio. It has the CD's original 157 tracks, and there are precious seconds chopped off at the ends of each, which cuts off what Ian McKellan's reading to the point that you hopelessly lose track of the story. I have appended several seconds to the beginning and ends of each of the 24 books in the hopes that that, with time, nothing will be lost.

-I did the GoldWave compiling TWICE, because the first time brought me with a total of 12 hours and 54 minutes of audio time, and since the stated listening length on the box says it's 13:26, I figured I must have done something wrong. The second time got me 13 hours, so one of three things has occurred: A) They overstated the audio length. B)I cut out a lot more music/misc air than I thought, or C)I screwed up somewhere... twice. So if someone catches where it is I messed up, please leave a comment!! (I should also note, that the previously mentioned torrent with the hacked up audio is only comes to a total of 12:55, so maybe my compilation is correct or close to it...?)


AUDIO PROPERTIES:

Channels: 1 (mono)
Sample Size: 16 bit
Bit Rate: 80 kbps
Audio quality: Medium (Lossy)
Combined size 442.96 MB
GoldWave atributes: Layer-3 (ACM), 48000 Hz, 80 kbps mono

Listening Length: 13 hours and 26 minutes (according to the box info)