Audiobook · read by volunteers
Adventures of Ulysses
Charles Lamb (1775–1834)
Read by Rebecca Dittman · 11 chapters · 3 h 47
About the book
Charles Lamb takes Homer's Odyssey and retells it for young readers in simple, graceful prose. Ulysses has fought at Troy and now longs to see his island home of Ithaca again. His journey takes years and leads him past one marvel and one danger after another: a one-eyed giant, an enchantress who changes men into beasts, the song of the Sirens, a monster with many heads and the perils of the open sea. Meanwhile, at home, his faithful wife and his son face a house full of unwelcome suitors. Lamb keeps the adventure moving and preserves the spirit of the ancient poem while making it easy to follow. Eleven sections, including a preface, are read by one volunteer in about three hours and forty-five minutes. It is a fine way for children or adults to meet the Odyssey for the first time.
Introduction
Charles Lamb, who lived from 1775 to 1834, was an English essayist, poet and critic, known above all for his Essays of Elia. With his sister Mary he also wrote Tales from Shakespeare. The Adventures of Ulysses was published in 1808 and is his retelling of Homer's Odyssey for younger readers.
Lamb based his version on George Chapman's English translation of Homer, and in his preface he explained his aim of giving the story a rapidity it might otherwise lack. The result is not a direct translation but a prose narrative, which was considered modern in its time. It keeps the main episodes of the voyage and the return, told clearly and with a storyteller's sense of pace.
This recording consists of eleven sections, with the preface followed by the chapters, and lasts roughly three hours and forty-five minutes. It is read by one LibriVox volunteer. Today it can serve as a first introduction to the Odyssey before moving on to a full verse translation, and it is also a pleasant example of how great stories are passed from one generation of writers to the next. The story has lasted for well over two thousand years in one form or another, and Lamb's version shows why. Its adventures are self-contained, so the recording can be enjoyed in short sessions, and the clean prose makes a good starting point for young listeners who may later meet the great poem itself.
Public domain
Charles Lamb died in 1834: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text