The Lost Books of the Odyssey

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The Lost Books of the Odyssey
LostBooksOdyssey.png
Dust jacket from the first revised edition
AuthorZachary Mason
Cover artistChin-Yee Lai
LanguageEnglish
Genre Parallel novel
Publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date
2010 (1st revised edition)
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardbound)
Pages228
ISBN 978-0-374-19215-0
OCLC 422758757

The Lost Books of the Odyssey [1] is a 2007 novel by Zachary Mason, republished in 2010. It is a reimagination of Homer's Odyssey .

Mason, who wrote the book while working full-time, won first prize and initial publication in a 2007 competition sponsored by Starcherone Books, an independent publisher in Buffalo, New York. [2] The Los Angeles Times reviewed the book, [3] and it became a finalist in the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction competition in 2009. [2] [4] The book garnered additional positive reviews upon re-publication with Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. [5] [6]

Jonathan Galassi, president of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, noticed the book and worked with Mason to craft a second edition of the book, reducing its length and making other modifications to the content. [2] The result was more widely reviewed to acclaim. [7] [8]

Plot

A series of short stories following the general theme of Odysseus, discussing fragments from the Iliad and the Odyssey, changing narrator and subject on very regular occasion for a total of 44 fragments.

References

  1. Mason, Zachary (2010). The Lost Books of the Odyssey . Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN   978-0-374-19215-0.
  2. 1 2 3 Rohter, Larry (February 9, 2010). "A Calculus of Writing, Applied to a Classic". The New York Times . Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  3. "Get lost!". Los Angeles Times . March 16, 2008.
  4. Gaffney, Adrienne (March 17, 2009). "Disproving the Notion That Kids These Days Only Write in Tweets". Vanity Fair . Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  5. "Fiction Books Reviews: 9/28/2009". Publishers Weekly. September 28, 2009. Archived from the original on January 3, 2010. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  6. "Macmillan: The Lost Books of the Odyssey: A Novel Zachary Mason: Books". Farrar, Straus and Giroux . Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  7. Kakutani, Michiko (January 27, 2010). "Odysseus Engages in Spin, Heroically". The New York Times . Retrieved January 10, 2010.
  8. Alter, Alexandra (February 5, 2010). "Reimagining Homer's Odyssey". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved February 10, 2010.