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Very much looking forward to Emily Wilson's forthcoming translation. She translated the Odyssey a few years ago, still in verse but with less stilted language,
by certmd 6y ago
Very much looking forward to Emily Wilson's forthcoming translation. She translated the Odyssey a few years ago, still in verse but with less stilted language, definitely makes it more accessible. Looking forward to reading it to my children when they're just a couple years older.
- Red_Tarsius 6y agoEmily translated the first line of the Odissey as "Tell me about a complicated man". She almost went with "Tell me about a straying husband". Neither complicated nor straying husband appear in the original text. Pope's description (The man for wisdom’s various arts renown’d...) is closer to the epithets we are taught at school (ricco d'astuzie or dal multiforme ingegno). πολύτροπος means resourceful, of many skills, well-travelled.
- certmd 6y agoI also found her Introduction and Translator's note very good. She acknowledges her goal was not the most direct word for word accuracy but from what I remember more the general feel to how things would have been interpreted by the audience at the time. After all, these were oral works enjoyed by not just "intellectuals" in ancient Greece. The idea of having a single best translation isn't really the right goal to seek and it really wasn't her aim. From reading her notes (and her twitter account) I've definitely gained an appreciation of how much an art in itself translation is.
- lalaithion 6y agoπολύτροπος literally means "one of many ways" or even more literally "multi-turned". Translating it as "for wisdom's various arts renown'd" is just as much poetic license as "complicated".
- Red_Tarsius 6y agoThat's the first line of the proem and complicated tells us nothing about the protagonist. Everyone can be complicated, but only Odysseus is πολύτροπον. It's a quality of character few people possess. I feel like Pope's line, despite the artistic license, kept that uniqueness.
- hombre_fatal 6y agoMy copy in Spanish says the man of many paths (hombre de muchos senderos). "Complicated" seems trite, almost meaningless. Though I'm willing to read beyond the first line of their translation.
- leephillips 6y agoIf it’s good enough for Shaft it’s good enough for this guy.