Summary : The Odyssey / Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original

Translating the Odyssey into English ProseThe author presents this full prose translation of the Odyssey to supplement his 1897 work, The Authoress of the Odyssey, which contained only an abridged version. He dedicated the volume to Professor Cav Biagio Ingroia as a helpful ally. The author reiterates two central claims without offering new arguments, asserting that no valid rebuttals have been raised against them. First, he maintains that the poem was composed in Trapani on the western coast of Sicily, and that the travels of Ulysses describe a voyage around Sicily starting and ending in Trapani. Second, he argues that the Odyssey was written by a young woman from Trapani who portrayed herself as Nausicaa within the story. Seeing no need to engage further with scholars, he focuses on providing an accessible English prose text along with notes, explanatory diagrams, and illustrations, including an updated plan of the house of Ulysses.Regarding translation philosophy, the author explains that turning verse into prose requires taking liberties to preserve readability. To illustrate his own prose style, he quotes the opening sixty lines of the Odyssey from the translation by Messrs Butcher and Lang. This excerpt recounts how Odysseus wandered after the fall of Troy, lost his companions when they ate the cattle of Helios Hyperion, and remained captive on the island of Calypso. It describes Zeus discussing the fate of Aegisthus with the gods while Poseidon is visiting the Ethiopians, prompting grey-eyed Athene to ask Zeus why Odysseus is left to suffer away from Ithaca.The author notes that while the Odyssey borrows heavily from the Iliad, he decided against printing those passages in a different typeface to avoid making the work overly academic. Instead, he urges university presses to publish Greek editions highlighting these shared lines, noting that he deposited marked copies of both epics at the British Museum for students. He argues that recognizing the common Sicilian origin, an early date before 750 B C, and the author's complete familiarity with the Iliad will resolve many academic debates. Furthermore, he explains that the Odyssey was created by joining two distinct original poems, namely the Return of Ulysses and the story of Penelope and the suitors, with minimal adjustments made to unify them. He concludes with brief technical remarks on minor punctuation choices and capitalization inconsistencies found in the 1894 Leipsic Teubner edition.