Homer-Haunted
The Many Afterlives of an Ancient Poet
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Homer-Haunted
Narrated by:
Henry Power
Pre-order Now for £14.12
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Narrated by:
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Henry Power
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By:
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Henry Power
'This is such a brilliantly told story of Homer-obsessives through the ages that, by the end, you're as hooked on Homer as they were' Frank Skinner
'Every page is an illuminating joy' A. N. Wilson
'An endlessly generous book' Daisy Hay
This is the story of how two ancient epics captured the world’s imagination.
The siege of Troy and Odysseus’ long voyage home have inspired many of our most thrilling and radical poets. Henry Power takes us on a surprising journey through the afterlives of these mysterious epics, and the search for the poet who created them.
Guiding us through the twists and turns of the Iliad and the Odyssey, Power travels to the places where Homer’s stories have taken root – from the islands of Greece to the Scottish Highlands, the Devon coast to suburban Los Angeles – to trace the footsteps of the poets, politicians, lunatics, and lovers haunted by Homer's mythical heroes and monsters.
A dazzlingly original and deeply personal testament to the power of poetry, Homer-Haunted is an epic account of how our oldest stories have shaped the way we read, write, and think.©2026 Henry Power (P)2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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Critic reviews
This rich embroidery of the British poetic story, from Chapman's Homer to contemporary writers, is a wonder of imaginative scholarship. The reader feels as excited as Keats, 'silent upon a peak of Darien'. We learn much about the British cultural tradition, but also about the immortal genius of Homer himself. Every page is an illuminating joy. (A. N. Wilson)
This is such a brilliantly told story of Homer-obsessives through the ages that, by the end, you're as hooked on Homer as they were. (Frank Skinner)
It's rich and beautiful and strange. (Rory Stewart, The Rest Is Politics)
I am bowled over by this book, by its range and erudition, its enormous capacity for empathy with a stadium-full of different minds and times and individualities. It is a triumph of understanding and wit, the very best of what criticism and biography and sheer reading can do. It is also written with a deeply receptive frame of mind, constantly championing the neglected and disparaged. To read it is to be enriched. (Adam Nicolson)
Full of wit, wisdom and wonder, in this beautifully illustrated book Henry Power brings Homer's stories, their cultural impact and continuing relevance to our society, vividly to life. (Lachlan Goudie)
Homer-Haunted is an endlessly generous book, written with a wonderful lightness of touch. Pope, Keats, Thom Gunn, returning World War II soldiers, Alice Oswald and many more meet in its pages through encounters with Homer that open up worlds of poetry and history as they unfold. The result is a joy for all those that love Homer, and a revelation for all those new to these glorious poems. (Daisy Hay)
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