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Popsugar reading challenge: A book by a blind or visually impaired author
Or, well, that's one of the many theories about Homer anyway.
I haven't really approached the text of the Iliad since... god, probably since my age still started with 1. I totally respect the Iliad's place in The Canon™️, but if I want a Homer story I prefer the Odyssey. And if I want a story about the Trojan war, I've tended to prefer the Greek tragedians of later centuries (Euripides, why do you care more about women than some of these modern feminist retellings, ugh, CALL ME!) However, Emily Wilson really helped me love the Odyssey even more so I knew I would have to read her Iliad.
And, yeah, she's now 2 for 2 with translations as far as I'm concerned! Her language is precise and direct, but without sacrificing poetry. If anything, some of her translation choices enhance the poetry of it all. I know I'll never truly get to see Homer's brilliant faculty for language unless I literally learn archaic Greek. But... still. I really felt this story in a way I hadn't before. Homer loves him some similes for death, and I've always found those enjoyable. Hear I could really visualize what Homer must have been going for. The deaths felt so visceral, and the similes used to portray felt so visceral.
It's funny because the first half felt kind of boring to me. (There's a reason I so often picked htis up as a teen and then would put it down.) Listening to it- I got the audiobook version- kept me going. Because even if I was zoning out, the language itself wrapped around me like a blanket. When Agamemnon makes a truce offering to Achilles, we hear him say it to a messenger. Then we hear a messenger repeat it to Achilles word for word. Written out, this kind of exchange is kind of mind-numbing. Hearing it aloud makes me think of ancient Greek audiences (newly out of the chaos caused by the bronze age collapse) gathering around a poet. They would remember Agamemnon's terms from the first time he said them. It would be tempting to mouth along with messenger's repetition, wondering how Achilles could possibly turn this down. But knowing he must for the story to go the way it always does.
Just... I don't know. Something about taking it in this way helped me feel connected to this poem's original audiences. It's beyond eerie to be musing about this kind of thing, and then have a character say someday future generations would be poring over all of these deeds.
In the second half though... man. This translation really really did help me see what Homer was doing. There's all these plot threads and themes that slowly, slowly twist around and around until all the characters are caught in a trap. An absolute no holds barred bloodbath starts around the time Hector decides to go and burn some ships and kill some more Greeks and Patroclus decides he needs to do something about it. After a lot of stagnation- both in the city and in the camps- suddenly everyone starts moving. And becoming the worst versions of themselves.
Side note (but related note): this translation really made me take note of how much Hector rants about how Troy has no food, no supplies, basically nothing because of the siege. Dude is probably starving and he's canonically sleep deprived. Probably drunk as hell, too, because there seems to be a lot of wine. No wonder he gets into 'IF I STOP MOVING I'LL DIE' mode. Like he's a shark or something. Poor doomed guy.
It's bizarre to me, sometimes, that this is one of the few poems we have of the larger Trojan war cycle. There were other epic poems in the tradition that have been lost. Poems that recount much more dramatic/glorious episodes in the whole saga. The Iliad starts out with a mutually despicable powerplay between Agamemnon and Achilles. It follows Hector for just a few days as he does increasingly frantic/anger-fueled things to try to turn the warn in his favor. A lot of men who really only get named in this poem die horribly (they never feature in any other myths.) Women have either become sex slaves or know that's going to be their fate in the near future and there's nothing they can do about it (A24... make a horror movie about this.) The gods are incredibly involved but seem to think of it all as a video game. Everything culminates in... not much, on paper. Just an old king taking his son's corpse back home. Troy will fall, but not yet, and it lays a curse on the victors. For now, everyone seems frankly bewildered by how so much was lost in such a short amount of time. Everything has changed but, also, nothing much has changed. In a few days the war will start up again.
It's all so bleak and sad and seemingly meaningless. But I think that's part of what makes it feel so human (or, at least, the worst parts of being human. What happens when we dehumanize each other and ourselves.) I can't help but believe that this is exactly why people felt so compelled to pass this story down through the ages.
Or, well, that's one of the many theories about Homer anyway.
I haven't really approached the text of the Iliad since... god, probably since my age still started with 1. I totally respect the Iliad's place in The Canon™️, but if I want a Homer story I prefer the Odyssey. And if I want a story about the Trojan war, I've tended to prefer the Greek tragedians of later centuries (Euripides, why do you care more about women than some of these modern feminist retellings, ugh, CALL ME!) However, Emily Wilson really helped me love the Odyssey even more so I knew I would have to read her Iliad.
And, yeah, she's now 2 for 2 with translations as far as I'm concerned! Her language is precise and direct, but without sacrificing poetry. If anything, some of her translation choices enhance the poetry of it all. I know I'll never truly get to see Homer's brilliant faculty for language unless I literally learn archaic Greek. But... still. I really felt this story in a way I hadn't before. Homer loves him some similes for death, and I've always found those enjoyable. Hear I could really visualize what Homer must have been going for. The deaths felt so visceral, and the similes used to portray felt so visceral.
It's funny because the first half felt kind of boring to me. (There's a reason I so often picked htis up as a teen and then would put it down.) Listening to it- I got the audiobook version- kept me going. Because even if I was zoning out, the language itself wrapped around me like a blanket. When Agamemnon makes a truce offering to Achilles, we hear him say it to a messenger. Then we hear a messenger repeat it to Achilles word for word. Written out, this kind of exchange is kind of mind-numbing. Hearing it aloud makes me think of ancient Greek audiences (newly out of the chaos caused by the bronze age collapse) gathering around a poet. They would remember Agamemnon's terms from the first time he said them. It would be tempting to mouth along with messenger's repetition, wondering how Achilles could possibly turn this down. But knowing he must for the story to go the way it always does.
Just... I don't know. Something about taking it in this way helped me feel connected to this poem's original audiences. It's beyond eerie to be musing about this kind of thing, and then have a character say someday future generations would be poring over all of these deeds.
In the second half though... man. This translation really really did help me see what Homer was doing. There's all these plot threads and themes that slowly, slowly twist around and around until all the characters are caught in a trap. An absolute no holds barred bloodbath starts around the time Hector decides to go and burn some ships and kill some more Greeks and Patroclus decides he needs to do something about it. After a lot of stagnation- both in the city and in the camps- suddenly everyone starts moving. And becoming the worst versions of themselves.
Side note (but related note): this translation really made me take note of how much Hector rants about how Troy has no food, no supplies, basically nothing because of the siege. Dude is probably starving and he's canonically sleep deprived. Probably drunk as hell, too, because there seems to be a lot of wine. No wonder he gets into 'IF I STOP MOVING I'LL DIE' mode. Like he's a shark or something. Poor doomed guy.
It's bizarre to me, sometimes, that this is one of the few poems we have of the larger Trojan war cycle. There were other epic poems in the tradition that have been lost. Poems that recount much more dramatic/glorious episodes in the whole saga. The Iliad starts out with a mutually despicable powerplay between Agamemnon and Achilles. It follows Hector for just a few days as he does increasingly frantic/anger-fueled things to try to turn the warn in his favor. A lot of men who really only get named in this poem die horribly (they never feature in any other myths.) Women have either become sex slaves or know that's going to be their fate in the near future and there's nothing they can do about it (A24... make a horror movie about this.) The gods are incredibly involved but seem to think of it all as a video game. Everything culminates in... not much, on paper. Just an old king taking his son's corpse back home. Troy will fall, but not yet, and it lays a curse on the victors. For now, everyone seems frankly bewildered by how so much was lost in such a short amount of time. Everything has changed but, also, nothing much has changed. In a few days the war will start up again.
It's all so bleak and sad and seemingly meaningless. But I think that's part of what makes it feel so human (or, at least, the worst parts of being human. What happens when we dehumanize each other and ourselves.) I can't help but believe that this is exactly why people felt so compelled to pass this story down through the ages.