16 h 58 minAudiobook7 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 does it take to lead others wisely when you are still searching for your father?
In The Adventures of Telemachus, the search for a father meets the question of how to live well. François Fénelon brings adventure and myth together in an epic where wisdom, virtue, and leadership matter as much as the search itself.
Telemachus gives this exploration of just rule a personal center: a son seeking his father. Alongside that search, Fénelon asks readers to consider what makes a worthy leader. The book invites you to think about the link between living with virtue and governing with wisdom.
What you’ll discover
- A son's search Follow Telemachus on a quest for his father that gives the epic its human heart.
- Wisdom and adventure Explore a classic that brings the search for wisdom into the world of myth.
- The meaning of leadership Consider what it means to lead well, with virtue as a guide.
- Questions of just rule Reflect on the connection between a leader's wisdom and the demands of just government.
- Virtue in focus Look beyond the quest itself to the book's questions about how to live.
Who will love it
Readers who love Greek myth retold with heart, journeys across strange coasts and stories about growing up. It suits anyone curious about leadership, honest friendship and how a good ruler should treat the people.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A goddess mourns and a prince lands
- Captives in Sicily and Egypt
- A good king, a bad king, and Tyre
- Temptation on Cyprus and a new friend
- Crete chooses a king and a storm follows
- The arrows of Love on Calypso's island
- Friends at sea and a city rising at Salente
- War in Hesperia, the underworld and honesty
- What the story teaches and how it is told
Who’s who
- TelemachusThe young son of Ulysses, proud and brave, who searches the seas for his missing father and learns to rule by learning to master himself.
- MentorTelemachus's stern old guide, who gives plain and often unwelcome advice and rescues the prince from danger again and again.
- CalypsoThe goddess of her island, who mourns Ulysses and tries to keep his son beside her with the gift of eternal life.
- IdomeneusThe exiled king of Crete, now building the city of Salente, who must learn to listen to hard truths after flattery has ruined him.
- NarbalAn honest Tyrian captain who protects Telemachus and teaches him how his city grew rich by trade.
- EucharisThe nymph who captures Telemachus's heart on Calypso's island and nearly keeps him from his homeland.
- PhiloclesA loyal and plain-spoken friend of Idomeneus, wrongly exiled, who prefers a quiet life but is called back to serve.
- AntiopeThe modest, hardworking daughter of Idomeneus, whom Telemachus comes to admire for her calm judgment and gentle manner.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 16 h 58 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 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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The Adventures of Telemachus
by François Fénelon · 1699
A shipwrecked prince and his stern guide wash ashore on Calypso's island, where a goddess offers him forever.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
A prince sets out to find his lost father and learns how to rule. That is the heart of The Adventures of Telemachus, written by Fénelon in the 1690s while he tutored the young Duke of Burgundy, grandson of Louis XIV.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A goddess mourns and a prince lands
The story opens on the island of Calypso. The goddess mourns Ulysses and often weeps on the shore. One morning she sees a shipwreck and two men on the sand. The younger one looks so much like Ulysses that she knows him as his son.
Telemachus has been searching the seas for his father. With him is an old man named Mentor. Calypso welcomes them into her cave, and nymphs bring fine clothes. Telemachus admires a purple robe, and Mentor scolds him sharply. A young man who loves finery, he says, is unworthy of glory.
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What is The Adventures of Telemachus about?
It follows Telemachus, son of Ulysses, as he searches for his lost father with the wise guide Mentor. Through shipwrecks, captivity and war, he learns how a just king should rule and how to master his own passions.
Who is Mentor in Telemachus?
Mentor is the old friend of Ulysses who guides Telemachus. He gives honest advice, warns him of flatterers and temptation, and often rescues him. His calm wisdom is the moral voice of the book.
Why did Louis XIV dislike Telemachus?
Readers saw the faults of Idomeneus, Pygmalion and Adrastus as hints about the French court, its flattery and its wars. Fénelon always denied that he meant any portraits. The king stayed angry, and Fénelon never returned to court.
The author
François Fénelon
1651–1715 · French archbishop, theologian and writer
François de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon (1651–1715) was a French theologian and writer. Born at the Château de Fénelon in southwestern France, he became archbishop of Cambrai in 1695 and died there. His works include On the Education of Girls (1687) and The Adventures of Telemachus (1699).
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