The Iliad / The Odyssey by Homer
|
List Price: Our Price: $21.46 You Save: $12.54 (37%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $15.00 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Iliad / The Odyssey
Book Review: Dramatic and readable
Summary: 4 Stars
Robert Fagles has done an excellent job at giving life to this ancient 'song', an epic of war. If you read this translation aloud (which you should certainly do!!), you will see how he has tried to give it the feel of an oral tradition, as if a bard were truly singing it. If you want to read this for the excitement of it, and really get a feel for the life behind it, read this translation. There are some boring parts, but that's just how the Iliad is, and it has nothing to do with Fagles's translation.However, if you are in a reading group of some sort where you all have different translations, you will quickly realize upon comparison that Fagles's translation, especially compared to the Lattimore, leaves something to be desired in terms of its literal-ness (is that a word?). For studying the particulars, I would suggest the Lattimore translation instead, which makes more of an effort to be true to the original Greek, and is still interesting, but less readable and intense than the Fagles translation.
Book Review: The best translation of Homer I've read.
Summary: 4 Stars
This translation of Homer's classics 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey' is so clear and accurate that the brilliance of the classic really seems to shine through. The first tale, The Iliad, recounts Greece's capture of Troy and the death of Achilles and the tragic return home of Agamemnon. The second, The Odyssey describes the long journey home of Odysseus, who, for years, had been enslaved on an island. I especially recommend Fagles' version to student or readers either unfamiliar with, or intimidated by Homer's work. It's easy-to-read and demonstrates why Homer is one of the greats.Book Review: Very good
Summary: 4 Stars
If you're interested in a more academic pursuit, go with the latimore translation; it's closer to the original Greek. For readability, try Fangles.Book Review: More interesting as a historical document than poetry
Summary: 3 Stars
This poem is the first contribution to western literature. The plot deals with a short part of the Greek Trojan War. Archilles the Greek warrior has had a dispute with another Greek Agamemnon the leader of the expedition over the spoils of war. He is upset that he has not been given a particular slave girl. He withdraws from the fight in a sulk. This leads to a considerable advantage to the Trojans. It means that their champion Hector is able to dominate the battlefield. Archilles's friend Patroclus decides to use Archilles's armor in battle to swing the tide for the Greeks. He meets Hector in battle and is killed. Archilles hears of the death and is enraged. (To the modern reader one suspects that Archilles swang both ways.) He meets Hector in battle and kills him. He drags the body of Hector around the city of Troy to further humiliate him. Hectors father Priam meets Archilles and buys his sons body so that it can be given a good funeral.
It is rather hard for someone reading an English translation to understand the original beauty of the language. One can only look at the story and how it is told. The Iliad is a tale that is bound up in the history of the ancient world. Alexander the Great traveled to Archilles tomb. Ancient Greeks and Romans admired him and the poem formed the basis of countless statues and pictures.
To the modern mind the story comes across strangely and the characters are flawed. Archilles the main character is willing to betray his countrymen over an argument. He allows his passion to control his life. His decision to enter the fray again is the result of another outbreak of bad temper. His treatment of Hecotor's body suggest vindictiveness and lack of control. The people in the poem act in a way that would have been inconceivable for Romans or Chinese. In fact the Trojans come across as the more virtuous and deserving.
Still the work is a classic of the highest importance in understanding the basis of our culture. It is a work populated by heroes a world in which gods also intervene in the affairs of men and are subject to the same temper tantrums as the mortal characters.
As an a work in English it is however difficult to see as a work of art or literature. The characters act more like some people down at the local pub having a brawl rather than rational men.
Book Review: DON'T buy into the Fagles "hype"!
Summary: 1 Stars
Although I respect Fagles as a modern translator, I cannot recommend his translations of Homer...I would probably only recommend his translations of Sophocles's 3 Theban Plays.
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey don't sound like Epics anymore under Fagles...they are turned into mild nice sounding children stories! He tones down Homer to the point that I feel that Fagels wants his personality to shine NOT Homer's! I am gravely disappointed by this.
I also find that he not only forces beauty into the text but adds too much of his personal warmth that gets in the way of the texts and creates a vision of Homer's epics that is truly unsound to the original.
Not only that but the font and design of the print is an eye sore, I don't like the choice the publishers and Fagles gave to the works. It doesn't make for easy reading...
Stanley Lombardo's translations are unparalleled in their print layout, design and font...not to say vivid and powerful evocative translation.
I continue to find Richmond Lattimore's facinating translations the most accurate to how the Ancient Greek language sounds to English ears. I would buy Lattimore over Fagles (and Fitzgerald).
And I still think Rieu's famous Prose version from 1946 is hard to beat for it's modernity and readibility.
...Find out for yourself by comparing a few versions but don't be duped into this mysterious "Fagles hype"!