Monday, November 21, 2005
The Iliad of Homer – Translated by Richmond Lattimore
Impossible for me to review: what can I possibly add? It’s like reviewing “r” or flint. It just is. What ever I think of it is beside the point. But I can say I enjoyed it. And I did, sort of. This translation seems to be well regarded – a quick look around Amazon seems to bear that out. It’s certainly better than the prose translations I’ve tried in the past. It’s a poem, and was created to be sung, so there’s little point going for a just-the-facts-ma’am version. I had to force myself though, and sometimes I’d catch the rhythm’s wave: then, boy, those dactylic hexameters really flew by! Whoo-whee!
Is identification with the characters important? I wasn’t too keen on Achilleus, bit of a blowhard, but Odysseus is engagingly “crafty”, and the domestic scenes between Hector and his wife Andromache provide a bit of human interest.
Is it worth reading? Yes, though not for the story - a précis would leave you lukewarm - for the cumulative effect of the poetry.
But it was a bit “eat your greens then you can have some Flashman.”
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Impossible for me to review: what can I possibly add? It’s like reviewing “r” or flint. It just is. What ever I think of it is beside the point. But I can say I enjoyed it. And I did, sort of. This translation seems to be well regarded – a quick look around Amazon seems to bear that out. It’s certainly better than the prose translations I’ve tried in the past. It’s a poem, and was created to be sung, so there’s little point going for a just-the-facts-ma’am version. I had to force myself though, and sometimes I’d catch the rhythm’s wave: then, boy, those dactylic hexameters really flew by! Whoo-whee!
Is identification with the characters important? I wasn’t too keen on Achilleus, bit of a blowhard, but Odysseus is engagingly “crafty”, and the domestic scenes between Hector and his wife Andromache provide a bit of human interest.
Is it worth reading? Yes, though not for the story - a précis would leave you lukewarm - for the cumulative effect of the poetry.
But it was a bit “eat your greens then you can have some Flashman.”
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