THE ILIAD

Robert Fagles's vigorous, celebrated translation of THE ILIAD receives a lively and engaging reading from renowned actor Derek Jacobi in this abridged production of Homer's classic. Set near the end of the Trojan War, the story is less a battlefield drama than a grand-scale, ancient soap opera in which a trifling contest among the gods has wrought the devastating ten-year siege of Troy and stirred all of the most familiar and primal human passions--love, jealousy, hatred, honor, loyalty, betrayal--among a large and convincingly human cast. Jacobi's characterizations are superb; the main players are distinct and clearly drawn--from Achilles, in his famous snit, to diffident Paris, heroic Hector, and the meddlesome gods themselves. M.G. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 07]