This is a story we cannot afford to miss. From ancient times to outer space, literature and film are filled with plucky adventurers struggling to get home.
This week, Christopher Nolan cashes in on that safe narrative bet New one odyssey Starring Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway. We can debate the success of this latest epic. But one thing is certain: Homer’s story isn’t going anywhere.
Talking about dozens and dozens of transformation stories, it is also true that some nobodies are better than others. Here is an irrefutable, completely objective and scientific list ranking the odysseys for you discerning adventurers out there.
10.
Michael Caine’s AI-Disi (2026)
Actor Michael Caine recently received a license his thick voice For a larger language model, so now a robot avatar can read a story to you. it’s useless many reasons. But today is my favorite: AI storytellers defeat Storytelling point.
If the person reading the epic out loud to you is too lazy to actually read the epic, then guys, what are we doing here? Last place, with a bullseye.
9.
L’Odyssey (1968)
recently New Yorker In the letter, critic David Denby explored the reason odyssey have done the best so many adapters. As it is, he comes again Italian eight-part miniseries Which makes Ithaca quite boring.
Denby Dismissed Series – Which You Can Currently Do Watch in French on YouTube-Highbrow as in ’60s kitsch. “As the camera pans across the ruins of Troy, we get a harsh historical lecture, followed by heavy scenes of actors standing around talking or looking out to sea. The filmmaking is believable, literal, and deadpan.” Ouch.
8.
odyssey (1997)
did you know there was a shiny odyssey Miniseries released in 1997? (and that it starred Eric RobertSand vanessa williams?!)
It didn’t seem to stick in the realm of epic culture – even though per DiversityUpon release, it was “the most expensive TV drama ever made on a minute-to-minute basis”. This story was critical of the same problems Denby identified above. Although its adventure sequences were praised, the script “lacked substance”.insight or depthof source material.
7.
ulysses (1954)
This first major Hollywood spin on the story was also epic in scale, but it was knocked down the new York Times For a Technicolor look and casting.
And alas, poor Kurt! reviewer Bosley Crowther There was a desire for “somebody more classy” in the lead role.
6.
George Chapman, odyssey (1616)
Although the 1616 edition may seem a bit empty to non-scholars, Chapman’s odyssey Brought the epic to English-reading shores. And hey, firsts are important.
However, his project was not completely faithful to the Greek. I am writing Los Angeles Review of BooksHistorian Richard H. Armstrong said that Chapman’s translation “Surrounded by scathing comments and wild claims to both Homer’s genius and his own authenticity as a translator.” I believe that ego follows ego.
5.
James Joyce, ulysses (1922)
I know I know. It’s hard to make room for deviant adaptations. By this metric, we can also include Charles Frazier cold mountainor Scorsese’s After hours, Or (insert any adventure/comeback story here). I take your quibble on the chin.
But I would be remiss to ignore Ulysses’s most direct literary descendant. Here, Dublin is Ithaca, and the timeline is condensed. But something tells me Homer would approve of it.
4.
l. Frank Baum and Victor Fleming, the Wizard of Oz (1939)
While we’re in the neighborhood of oblique adaptations, here’s my case for Oz. In this odyssey, we find a turning point on the hero’s journey. Dorothy Gale is not here to be polite; Nor does she arrive at the scene as assured as her predecessors. His journey is about stepping into power, not relinquishing it. who makes this journey home Even more poignant.
(See also: The Wiz.)
3.
Emily Wilson, odyssey
called “quick and conciseUpon its 2018 release, Wilson odyssey Put epic back on the map for a wider modern audience. According to critics such as Annalisa Quinn on nprThe classicist purged the “nostalgic detritus” that makes older versions of the story seem strange.
Wilson also presented the yarn in “friendly iambic pentameter”, which some readers found to be a conversational rhythm appropriate for a story designed to be read aloud.
2.
Robert Fitzgerald, odyssey (1961)
Scholars can debate the merits of a translation for as long as film experts. Do we dig academic Latimore, or cinematic fagles? This new Mendelsohn looks exciting. But what about Cesar Pavese?
Speaking from the public school where the book promoted you personally, I am a fan of Fitzgerald myself. write in a 1974 New York Review of BooksCritic DS Carne-Ross praised this beloved translation. odyssey For its unique poetry: “No previous rendering was entirely satisfactory.”
1.
coen brothers, O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000)
When asked last week to think of singular American art creations, this Athena-like scene from Depression-era Mississippi sprang to mind. In the Coen brothers’ film, we have foibles, jailbreaks, sirens emanating from Appalachia, and a South that can be equally charming as it is violent.
As Denby reminds us, “Odysseus is a warrior with wit and intelligence, a swindler and falsifier who constantly reinvents himself.” Clooney’s Ulysses (…Everett McGill) repeats the second part of that narrative, highlighting the war hero’s underappreciated genius. After all, it takes an inventive person to whip up a chart-topping ear-worm at a moment’s notice.
Whatever your favorite is, Nolan or Joyce, you might not be lost for too long.
