OK Yea Forums, give it to me straight, what is the definitive Iliad and Odyssey translations. I read Fagles for both, and just finished pic related. I think I preferred Reck's translation, but I'll have to read Fagles again before I'm sure.
Homer Translations
Wyatt Lewis
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Joshua Stewart
Perhaps what I mean is: which translation is the most read among scholars? I'm guessing Pope? I was thinking I'd read his Odyssey next.
Josiah Morgan
I've read fagles and Lattimore. I prefered Lattimore, but I think we tend to prefer the one we read second because re-reads are always more enjoyable.
Austin Nguyen
Scholars read it in Greek. From what I've seen though, undergraduates read the Lattimore translation.
Joshua Jones
Scholars? Read it in the original. lattimore if you want accuracy. Pope's iliad and Chapman's Odyssey for poetry
Nolan Sanders
/thread
Jaxon Hill
>translation
>scholars
>reading translation
If you read a translation you're not a scholar.
Josiah Miller
Yes, I'm obviously a brainlet. I really didn't know all those nerds know Greek.
Juan Clark
Look dude, Just learn the Ancient Greek. It's not that hard if you buckle down and practice everyday you can probably read the thing in about 8 months to a year.
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Oliver Fisher
Lattimore is probably the highest regarded in terms of scholarly reading. Does anyone have opinions on TE Lawrence’s Odyssey?
Austin Martin
No, user, I really am a brainlet. Like I'm actually not smart at all.
Jordan Cox
>it's another "let's endlessly debate different translations as if anybody has ever read multiple translations of the same book who doesn't have a PhD and completely ignore the actual story and themes of the book because the thread is just an excuse to sound smart without reading, because after all, you can't read a book unless you have a flawless translation" thread
Logan Reyes
Undergrads read Lattimore.
Jaxon Brooks
having read in the greek
i don’t mind lombardo
Chase Nguyen
There isn’t one single best because Greek isn’t a very easy language to translate into English, and certain strengths in one area of the translation result in weaknesses in other areas of the work.
Some good translations to read concurrent to one another are Robert Fitzgerald, Richmond Lattimore, George Chapman, and Robert Fagles.
James Clark
I like the Anthony Varity one for Oxford
Wyatt Thomas
How are Ian Johnston's translations?
Anthony Williams
Learning languages is easy. 90IQ adults learn new languages. Just takes time and dedication.
Austin Rogers
Lattimore & Pope are the clear winners with regards to the Iliad.
What about the Odyssey and Aeneid? I know Fitzgerald's work is praised, and that Pope's Odyssey is maligned.
Camden Ward
Dryden's Aenied for me, and I say that as someone who actually read it in Latin back in school. Accuracy is a meme, I'd rather have great poetry with 95% of the text than mediocre poetry with 100%
Christopher Long
I completely agree - Dryden's and Mandelbaum's translations of the Aeneid are my personal favorites.
Tyler Wilson
Which one should I read first: The Illiad or The Odyssee?
Cameron Sanders
My favorite translator of Homer would have to be Lombardo. I've tried Rodney Merrill's translation, because it was written in "something-something hexameter", and supposedly matches phonetically and lexically the originals very closely. I also tried Fagels translation because that seems to be the most popular, and I think Harold Bloom mentioned that one. But Lombardo simply clears up the language, he makes it so there's hardly anything equivocal about anything anyone says, and he keeps the speech very concise and still surprisingly good sounding. It still reads very well, and I don't have to clarify any vague statements when I read Lombardo.
Aaron Murphy
Pope shouldn't be viewed as a translation honestly, he goes too far
Good book but not a translation of the Iliad
They use "remake" for movies and that applies here
Hudson Parker
Recently read the Fitzgerald Odyssey. White it wasnt beautiful it was very readable.
Jeremiah Bennett
Its post2016/lit/.
You're lucky of anyone ITT has read a single translation of the Iliad, never mind multiple translations from which to compare and contrast.
Basically what we have here is a group of chronic mouth-breathers googling "best Iliad" translation on your behalf, then passing off the results as their own informed opinion. Maybe they watched a yootoober discuss the issue.
New/lit/ doesn't read
Mason Lopez
On reading the Iliad, Odyssey and Aeneid:
Lattimore, Fagles and Fitzgerald are the primary contemporary translators - Lattimore translated the Iliad and Odyssey, Fagles and Fitzgerald translated all three. There is no great deal of difference in the quality of these translations, it genuinely comes down to which you prefer more - I find Fagles to be the most consistent and easily readable.
Other translations that really distinguish themselves are those with strong rhyme and meter - the best of these are Pope's Iliad, Chapman's Odyssey and Dryden's Aeneid. Chapman's Iliad is very good too, but not nearly as lauded as Pope's, while "Pope's" Odyssey is justly maligned.
Here's what I'd recommend for the most enjoyable reading experience of the Iliad, Odyssey and Aeneid - read a chapter (ie book) of your preferred contemporary translation, then read the same chapter in the equivalent rhyming interpretation. This spares you the trouble of diving head-first into the often confusing rhyming interpretations, and gives you magnificent verse to look forward to while reading the contemporary translations.