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My first reaction was "Harumph" being a fan of Robert Fagles' translation. I sit corrected. I'll be buying a copy of Emily Wilson's too: Tell me about a comp

My first reaction was "Harumph" being a fan of Robert Fagles' translation. I sit corrected. I'll be buying a copy of Emily Wilson's too: Tell me about a complicated man. Muse, tell me how he wandered and was lost when he had wrecked the holy town of Troy, and where he went, and who he met, the pain he suffered in the storms at sea, and how he worked to save his life and bring his men back home. He failed to keep them safe; poor fools, they ate the Sun God’s cattle, and the god kept them from home. Now goddess, child of Zeus, tell the old story for our modern times. Find the beginning.

moomin 9y ago
Yeah, that’s wonderful. If the rest is as good it’s going to be a great read.
chrismealy 9y ago
I thought Fagles was good too but that is just electric.
- scrumper 9y ago
  I've never read Fagle. Mine is T.E. Lawrence's translation. I love the opening of that, but I think I'll enjoy Wilson's too: O Divine Poesy Goddess-Daughter of Zeus sustain for me this song of the various-minded man who after he had plundered the innermost citadel of hallowed Troy was made to stray grievously about the coasts of men the sport of their customs good or bad while his heart through all the sea-faring ached in an agony to redeem himself and bring his company safe home Vain hope - for them for his fellows he strove in vain their own witlessness cast them away the fools to destroy for meat the oxen of the most exalted sun wherefore the Sun-god blotted out the day of their return Make the tale live for us in all its many bearings O Muse
- tomcam 9y ago
  Yes. It reads gorgeously.
benbreen 9y ago
A fuller excerpt was published by the Paris Review in case anyone reading this was like me and wanted to keep going: https://www.theparisreview.org/poetry/6950/from-the-odyssey-book-i-homer-translated-by-emily-wilson https://www.theparisreview.org/poetry/6950/from-the-odyssey-... Definitely excited to read he book as well.
mturmon 9y ago
It is beautifully rendered. I got a shiver.
thewayfarer 9y ago
"Complicated" is an interesting translation for πολύτροπον rather than the more literal "much-traveled." But then again, The Odyssey isn't some children's adventure story. It's a story about the brutal, strange, post-war Ancient Mediterranean and people lost, or without purpose, who have to constantly adapt to the challenges of that world while still staying true to their identity. It's all, well...complicated.
- CDokolas 9y ago
  Greeks usualy translate "πολύτροπον" to the modern "πολυμήχανος" - http://www.wordreference.com/gren/%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BB%CF%85%CE%BC%CE%AE%CF%87%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%82 http://www.wordreference.com/gren/%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BB%CF%85%C...
- jhanschoo 9y ago
  I am a fan of contemporary localizations of old texts, since contexts change so much throughout the millenia. Id think that in this globalized age much-traveled doeant have the same connotations of wisdom and adventure and loss as Homer’s word, and some other word might need to be used to bring it into context
- forapurpose 9y ago
  She addresses that word directly in the article: “One of the things I struggled with,” Wilson continued, sounding more exhilarated than frustrated as she began to unpack “polytropos,” the first description we get of Odysseus, “is of course this whole question of whether he is passive — the ‘much turning’ or ‘much turned’ — right? This was —” “Treat me,” I interrupted, “as if I don’t know Greek,” as, in fact, I do not. “The prefix poly,” Wilson said, laughing, “means ‘many’ or ‘multiple.’ Tropos means ‘turn.’ ‘Many’ or ‘multiple’ could suggest that he’s much turned, as if he is the one who has been put in the situation of having been to Troy, and back, and all around, gods and goddesses and monsters turning him off the straight course that, ideally, he’d like to be on. Or, it could be that he’s this untrustworthy kind of guy who is always going to get out of any situation by turning it to his advantage. It could be that he’s the turner.” EDIT: And later in the article: “If I was really going to be radical,” Wilson told me, returning to the very first line of the poem, “I would’ve said, polytropos means ‘straying,’ and andra” — “man,” the poem’s first word — “means ‘husband,’ because in fact andra does also mean ‘husband,’ and I could’ve said, ‘Tell me about a straying husband.’ And that’s a viable translation. That’s one of the things it says. But it would give an entirely different perspective and an entirely different setup for the poem. The fact that it’s possible to translate the same lines a hundred different times and all of them are defensible in entirely different ways? That tells you something.” But, Wilson added, with the firmness of someone making hard choices she believes in: “I want to be super responsible about my relationship to the Greek text. I want to be saying, after multiple different revisions: This is the best I can get toward the truth.”
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
forapurpose 9y ago
Now goddess, child of Zeus, tell the old story for our modern times. For the first time in English, that sentence has an extra meaning.

moomin 9y ago

Yeah, that’s wonderful. If the rest is as good it’s going to be a great read.

chrismealy 9y ago

I thought Fagles was good too but that is just electric.

scrumper 9y ago
I've never read Fagle. Mine is T.E. Lawrence's translation. I love the opening of that, but I think I'll enjoy Wilson's too: O Divine Poesy Goddess-Daughter of Zeus sustain for me this song of the various-minded man who after he had plundered the innermost citadel of hallowed Troy was made to stray grievously about the coasts of men the sport of their customs good or bad while his heart through all the sea-faring ached in an agony to redeem himself and bring his company safe home Vain hope - for them for his fellows he strove in vain their own witlessness cast them away the fools to destroy for meat the oxen of the most exalted sun wherefore the Sun-god blotted out the day of their return Make the tale live for us in all its many bearings O Muse
tomcam 9y ago
Yes. It reads gorgeously.

benbreen 9y ago

A fuller excerpt was published by the Paris Review in case anyone reading this was like me and wanted to keep going: https://www.theparisreview.org/poetry/6950/from-the-odyssey-book-i-homer-translated-by-emily-wilson https://www.theparisreview.org/poetry/6950/from-the-odyssey-... Definitely excited to read he book as well.

mturmon 9y ago

It is beautifully rendered. I got a shiver.

thewayfarer 9y ago

"Complicated" is an interesting translation for πολύτροπον rather than the more literal "much-traveled." But then again, The Odyssey isn't some children's adventure story. It's a story about the brutal, strange, post-war Ancient Mediterranean and people lost, or without purpose, who have to constantly adapt to the challenges of that world while still staying true to their identity. It's all, well...complicated.

CDokolas 9y ago
Greeks usualy translate "πολύτροπον" to the modern "πολυμήχανος" - http://www.wordreference.com/gren/%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BB%CF%85%CE%BC%CE%AE%CF%87%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%82 http://www.wordreference.com/gren/%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BB%CF%85%C...
jhanschoo 9y ago
I am a fan of contemporary localizations of old texts, since contexts change so much throughout the millenia. Id think that in this globalized age much-traveled doeant have the same connotations of wisdom and adventure and loss as Homer’s word, and some other word might need to be used to bring it into context
forapurpose 9y ago
She addresses that word directly in the article: “One of the things I struggled with,” Wilson continued, sounding more exhilarated than frustrated as she began to unpack “polytropos,” the first description we get of Odysseus, “is of course this whole question of whether he is passive — the ‘much turning’ or ‘much turned’ — right? This was —” “Treat me,” I interrupted, “as if I don’t know Greek,” as, in fact, I do not. “The prefix poly,” Wilson said, laughing, “means ‘many’ or ‘multiple.’ Tropos means ‘turn.’ ‘Many’ or ‘multiple’ could suggest that he’s much turned, as if he is the one who has been put in the situation of having been to Troy, and back, and all around, gods and goddesses and monsters turning him off the straight course that, ideally, he’d like to be on. Or, it could be that he’s this untrustworthy kind of guy who is always going to get out of any situation by turning it to his advantage. It could be that he’s the turner.” EDIT: And later in the article: “If I was really going to be radical,” Wilson told me, returning to the very first line of the poem, “I would’ve said, polytropos means ‘straying,’ and andra” — “man,” the poem’s first word — “means ‘husband,’ because in fact andra does also mean ‘husband,’ and I could’ve said, ‘Tell me about a straying husband.’ And that’s a viable translation. That’s one of the things it says. But it would give an entirely different perspective and an entirely different setup for the poem. The fact that it’s possible to translate the same lines a hundred different times and all of them are defensible in entirely different ways? That tells you something.” But, Wilson added, with the firmness of someone making hard choices she believes in: “I want to be super responsible about my relationship to the Greek text. I want to be saying, after multiple different revisions: This is the best I can get toward the truth.”

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

forapurpose 9y ago

Now goddess, child of Zeus, tell the old story for our modern times. For the first time in English, that sentence has an extra meaning.