Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of the Odyssey has sent readers back to one of the founding works of Western literature — and publishers have responded with a wave of new editions, translations and retellings.
Why the Odyssey endures
Hollywood’s interest is only the latest excuse to revisit the Greek and Latin classics. But the reason the Odyssey keeps returning is simpler: it is an inexhaustible story.
The translator Pau Sabaté describes it as a very complete poem that combines battles with monsters with the quieter, harder challenge of returning home and having to humble oneself. Odysseus is not just a warrior; he is a man who must lose himself to rediscover who he is. The editor Roger Aluja adds that the possible readings of the poem never run out: each generation finds new meaning in it.
Stephen Fry’s version
The British writer and actor Stephen Fry has published his own retelling, which he describes as more modern, novelistic and cinematic than the Iliad. For Fry, the poem’s power lies in its portrayal of family relationships — husband and wife, father and son — and its psychological realism, with Homer cutting back and forth in time like a film director.
Manara’s graphic novel
The Italian artist Milo Manara has adapted the epic as a full-colour graphic novel that puts Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, at the centre. Manara sees the story as a circle: while Odysseus wanders for 20 years, his son follows his own parallel journey in Ithaca.
Illustrated editions
Another edition pairs Samuel Butler’s classic prose translation with drawings by the Spanish cartoonist Calpurnio, designed to help new readers find their way through the gods, monsters and heroes.
New translations
Pau Sabaté’s new Catalan translation, published by La Casa dels Clàssics, aims to make the text accessible while keeping its poetic rhythm.
Blackie Books has recovered Gustav Schwab’s 19th-century retellings of the Greek myths in three volumes, covering the Trojan War, the voyage of Ulysses and the journey of Aeneas — an accessible way for younger readers to enter the world of the classics.
Myth as self-help
The Odyssey has even reached the self-help shelves, with books using Odysseus’ journey as a guide to self-knowledge, resilience and Stoic philosophy.
The bottom line
Whether through a blockbuster film, a graphic novel or a new translation, the Odyssey shows that its themes — homecoming, identity, perseverance and family — remain as relevant today as they were nearly three thousand years ago.
