5 ms·
I stumbled upon War Music after discarding (almost) every other translation of the Iliad because the translators cleary didn't get it. Sure, they could talk abo
by nataliste 2y ago
I stumbled upon War Music after discarding (almost) every other translation of the Iliad because the translators cleary didn't get it. Sure, they could talk about Homeric epithets for days and knowingly reference the "wine dark sea," but the actual ethic and humanity of the Iliad eluded them. And when you do get those aspects (as Logue did), the actual choice of idiom by the translator becomes irrelevant, whereas if you don't get them, no matter how "technically accurate" the idiom is, it's just farcical. To my mind, these ersatz translations become the Homeric equivalent of English as She Is Spoke.
- wolverine876 2y ago> I stumbled upon War Music after discarding (almost) every other translation of the Iliad because the translators cleary didn't get it Homer's world is very alien to ours. I realized at one point, reading the Odyssey, that it is myself who didn't get it. There was a chasm between me and Homer, and if I wanted read and understand Homer in a meaningful way, I was going to have to cross it. Unless I have personal expertise, how can I evaluate who 'gets it', Logue or others?
- nataliste 2y ago>ours
- sapphicsnail 2y agoAs someone who can read Ancient Greek, Homer is unlike anything we have in English. No translation can "get it." It's oral poetry meant to be performed for hours at a time with a bunch of repetitive stock phrases. I don't feel like I "get it" reading it in Greek. It's absolutely beautiful but even when I read it in Greek, I feel like there's this huge gulf between me and the context it which it was created. I think you should just choose whatever translation you find beautiful but there's also value if someone wants to read something that's worded more closely to the Greek.