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.
 Dust jacket from the first revised edition | |
| Author | Zachary Mason |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Chin-Yee Lai |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Parallel novel |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
Publication date | 2010 (1st revised edition) |
| Media type | Print (Hardbound) |
| Pages | 228 |
| ISBN | 978-0-374-19215-0 |
| OCLC | 422758757 |
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.