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brynhammond's review
5.0
I liked the idea of these 'in English' epic poets: you try out every translation that has been and pursue those that are for you. And you can't go wrong with George Steiner at the helm.
It starts with Chaucer's Troilus ('the first psychological novel')and Henryson's Testament of Criseyde (fantastic piece), there's Chapman to tempt to the peaks of Homer translation and Keats' sonnets thereon - because you get poetry on Homer too. I first met Christopher Logue's famous new fragments here, which Steiner calls 'an act of genius'. You can have a look at the weirder experiments in translation, of the sort you'd never give shelf space of their own, but you can certainly learn from failures.
It starts with Chaucer's Troilus ('the first psychological novel')and Henryson's Testament of Criseyde (fantastic piece), there's Chapman to tempt to the peaks of Homer translation and Keats' sonnets thereon - because you get poetry on Homer too. I first met Christopher Logue's famous new fragments here, which Steiner calls 'an act of genius'. You can have a look at the weirder experiments in translation, of the sort you'd never give shelf space of their own, but you can certainly learn from failures.
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