18 h 33 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What drives a hero onward: anger, duty, love, or the hope of reaching home?
In The Book of the Epic, H. A. Guerber retells great narrative poems in plain prose. Begin with Homer’s Iliad, where Achilles withdraws from the siege of Troy after a quarrel with Agamemnon. Follow Odysseus as he struggles to reach Penelope and home, then turn to Virgil’s Aeneid, where Aeneas flees a burning city with his people’s future at stake.
The journey reaches Beowulf, the Nibelungenlied, and The Song of Roland, with their monsters, bold princes, and embattled knights. Dante’s Divine Comedy turns toward a journey through the afterlife, while India’s Ramayana follows the exiled Rama as he seeks to rescue Sita. Guerber helps you follow these stories, place their names, and notice what distant traditions share.
What you’ll discover
- Heroes with urgent choices Meet Achilles, Odysseus, and Aeneas through quarrels, perilous journeys, and the pull of home.
- Monsters across the sea Follow Beowulf to King Hrothgar’s aid, where the monster Grendel threatens.
- Love and knightly courage Meet Siegfried seeking Kriemhild’s hand, and Roland fighting beside his wiser friend Oliver.
- Journeys beyond familiar ground Explore Dante’s imagined afterlife and Rama’s quest to rescue Sita from Ravana.
- A clear path into epic Discover the plots behind treasured poems without first working through their full verse.
Who will love it
For curious readers who love myths, heroic journeys and stories of gods and fate, and students who want to discover the stories behind the world's epics in plain prose.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Greek epics begin with anger and return
- Rome answers Greece with duty and destiny
- Northern heroes face monsters and fate
- Medieval epics blend faith and chivalry
- Dante and later poets turn inward
- Eastern epics widen the circle
Who’s who
- AchillesThe proud and swift Greek warrior of the Iliad, who withdraws from the siege of Troy after a quarrel with Agamemnon.
- OdysseusThe clever king of Ithaca, who fights to reach his wife Penelope and his home after the Trojan War.
- AeneasThe Trojan prince of the Aeneid, who flees his burning city and is fated to found a new home for his people.
- BeowulfA young Geatish warrior who crosses the sea to help King Hrothgar against the monster Grendel.
- SiegfriedThe bold prince of the Nibelungenlied, who comes to Worms to win the hand of Kriemhild.
- RolandThe brave and rash nephew of Charlemagne in the Song of Roland, fighting beside his wiser friend Oliver.
- DanteThe poet who, lost in a dark wood, is led by Virgil through Hell and Purgatory toward Paradise.
- RamaThe exiled prince of Ayodhya in the Ramayana, who sets out to rescue his wife Sita from the demon Ravana.
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 18 h 33 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Le Livre de l’épopée in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Le Livre de l’épopée
by H. A. Guerber · 1913
From Achilles at Troy to Rama in the forest, meet the heroes of the world's epics and trace their journeys and quarrels.
Challenging10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Book of the Epic is a guide and retelling by H. A. Guerber, an American teacher and writer who spent her career making old stories easy to approach. She is also known for her books on Greek, Roman, Norse and medieval legend.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Greek epics begin with anger and return
The book opens with Homer, the poet the Greeks treated as the father of their literature. The Iliad is set during the long siege of Troy, where Greek kings have gathered to win back Helen, the wife of Menelaus, carried off by the Trojan prince Paris. The poem does not tell the whole war. It focuses on a quarrel between Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks, and Achilles, their strongest fighter.
That quarrel gives the poem its shape. Achilles is proud and swift, and he is the son of a sea goddess. When he feels insulted, he withdraws from the battle, and the Greeks soon feel his absence. On the Trojan side stands Hector, a defender of his city who fights for his wife, his child and his people. Guerber's retelling lets you see both camps as human, with their own loyalties.
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What is The Book of the Epic about?
It retells the main epic poems of the world in plain prose. It covers Greek, Roman, English, German, French, Italian and Indian works, giving each one's story, heroes and setting so readers can follow them without the full verse.
Who wrote The Book of the Epic and when?
H. A. Guerber wrote it, and it appeared in the early twentieth century. She was an American teacher and author who wrote many books retelling myths and legends for students and general readers.
Which epics are in The Book of the Epic?
It includes the Iliad and Odyssey, the Aeneid, Beowulf, the Nibelungenlied, the Song of Roland, the Divine Comedy and the Ramayana, along with other national epics from Europe and Asia.
The author
H. A. Guerber
1859–1929 · American historian and mythologist
H. A. Guerber was Hélène Adeline Guerber, an American writer who lived in the United States from 1859 to 1929. She wrote books about history, mythology, and legends. Her works included The Story of the Greeks (1896), Legends of Switzerland (1899), and The Book of the Epic (1913).
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