The Iliad is shit

People in here are shitting on Fagles' Iliad. I absolutely loved it and find it preferable to other translations. Fagles for casual reading, Lattimore for study of the original text. Pope for fancypants. The rest are unnecessary. Emily Wilson's Odyssey is pretty good though.

It's the same story again and again: user doesn't realize the point of reading is to enjoy it, not gain Yea Forums credits.

I'm sorry you can't enjoy it, user.

That would be the proper Greek thing to do

you should try, uh , fucking enjoying yourself

>People shitting on based Fagles
OP is really to blame for making such a shitty thread

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I read it last year and reached the same conclusion as you, although I did persevere through it. It's mostly worth it to understand references in better works.

>read a prose translation
This is the worst suggestion I have ever seen posted here.

>How the fuck are the Homeric poems actually some people's favorite books?
You read half of the Iliad and didn't even attempt reading the Odyssey and you've already formed your opinion? I've read the Iliad a few times and never particularly enjoyed it, though I can appreciate why people do. The Odyssey is enjoyable every god damn time though.

Guys, I just finished Book 6 of the Iliad with tears in my eyes...
That closing scene was the best so far with the contrast between Paris emergine proud and Hektor leaving his grief-stricken family.

War is hell

That's my favorite bit too

B A S E D.

For me it’s the reverse. His Iliad is immediate and crisp, while his Odyssey is a bit too vernacular for my taste.

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just learn Greek user. It should only take you a month or two. then you can read the Illiad properly

This is literally every literature in existence. Get to the fucking point. If you fail at making the build up interesting, you have failed as a writer, and nah, its not about writing what makes you seem the smartest, its about making the reader want to engage in a close relationship with you during whatever quest or story we absolutely must clinge onto every page to hear because we want to know how our protagonist against all odds solves or fails at his quest.

philisophy and absuridty is mental masturbation

Based death

do you know ancient greek? you can't read the iliad, even with a crib, after a month.

I think many people forget the Illiad would be read out, or rather recited out to people, perhaps over the course of several days (like episodes of a tv show today), so OP’s criticisms aren’t very good:
>drawn out
In what way? The story isn’t about the war as such, each chapter is different from the others and has something new to say either about a plot development or, more often, a character development. The narrative follows a tug of war struggle where neither side can push through, so of course they will go back and forth.

>over specific
In what way? Perhaps you’re refering to each character’s backstory - but this helps us to understand that in the war it’s not greeks or trojans dying, but specific people with lives and families. some of them even know each other, at times they show mercy because of that, other times they’re extra merciless and taunt their dead bodies. Same goes for the catalogue of ships, this isn’t just a story, for all intents and purposes it’s the history of the Trojan war, would you say a history book is also over specific if it mentions too many names associated with a conflict, or would you say it’s good for being accurate.

>repetitive
Not sure what you’re refering to again, is it the repeating formulas? it is a poem that would have been recited after all, the repeating formulas would help identify characters and moments, otherwise not sure what is repetitive.

>Edith Hamilton
lol