Top ten seafaring tales

Carsten Jensen, renowned Danish author and worldwide cultural critic, has just published his epic novel We, The Drowned, in English. He was awarded the Golden Laurels for I Have Seen the World Begin; the Danske Banks Litteraturpris, Denmark's most prestigious literary award; and, most recently, the Palme prize.

He named his top ten seafaring tales for the Guardian.

One title on the list:

The Odyssey by Homer

Written in an era when the world believed in magic, and that the unmapped seas contained both marvels and monsters, The Odyssey is the greatest seafaring epic of all. Homer's storytelling skills are so deft that readers tend to overlook the shortcomings of his hero on the seamanship front: not only does it take Odysseus 20 years to cover the relatively short distance between Troy and his beloved island of Ithaca, but during that time, he also manages to lose his entire fleet of 12 ships. When he finally arrives home, not a single one of his crew remains alive. Hardly a great role-model for would-be captains.

Read about another book on Jensen's list.

The Odyssey also made Mullan's lists ten of the best shipwrecks in literature and ten of the best monsters in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue