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The Odyssey; Translated by E.V. Rieu Homer
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated

William gives us a history of the development of Penguin Classics of which she became the second editor, following her mentor, E.V. In a café in Interlaken, I once swapped James Clavell's usefully massive Shogun for E. As you suggest, without them, the wide world of literature would be narrowed to an English corridor. Penguin Classics has this, plus a prose translation by E.V. Rieu's prose version of The Odyssey. At first I put this down to multiple translators, which can impact any story severely, but after reading E. Anyone who's ever used a literal translation to help with a set text will understand how a dry translation can utterly sap interest. Rieu's translation which, I understand, is not the very best. But in spite of @Thammuz , does this mean that E.V. Rieu's translation of the Odyssey (for instance) gave me a powerful sense of the sea: the treacherous complexities of its tides and currents. I still associate Homer with the Alps. For a long time all I could access was E.V. So, what makes this edition the one to read, when there's dozens of translations out there. Some of my favourite books are translations beginning a very long time ago with EV Rieu's prose translation of The Odyssey. Rieu's celebrated translation in its entirety for the second time, I realised that this was not the case. First Edition Of The First Penguin Classic. Rieu's translation of the Odyssey was part re-write, part translation?