1835–1902
Victorian novelist whose prose Odyssey and Iliad are free, readable, and public domain.
Homer as a good English novel. Butler turned the Odyssey into plain, brisk prose, on the theory that ordinary readers wanted the story, not the metre. It is free, easy, and still a fine way in if verse puts you off, though you lose the poetry entirely and Butler’s Victorian idiom shows its age. His notes push his eccentric theory that the poem was written by a woman. A reliable, no-cost prose Odyssey.
Homer told as a plain English novel. Butler turns the Iliad into brisk, clear prose on the theory that ordinary readers want the story, not the metre, and it is an easy, free way in if verse puts you off. You lose the poetry entirely, and his Victorian idiom shows its age, but the narrative drive is real and the meaning dependable. The same steady hand that did his prose Odyssey.