The Lost Books of the Odyssey

The Lost Books of the Odyssey
Dust jacket from the first revised edition
AuthorZachary Mason
Cover artistChin-Yee Lai
LanguageEnglish
GenreParallel novel
PublisherFarrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date
2010 (1st revised edition)
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardbound)
Pages228
ISBN978-0-374-19215-0
OCLC422758757

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. ^ a b c 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.
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