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gardnerhere 's review for:
The Iliad
by Homer
I mean yeah, of course it gets 5 stars. Nothing lasts this long without earning five.
This was (to my discredit) my first spin through the full text, and I split it between four translations, ranked below with light commentary:
#4 - E. V. Rieu (paperback)
Serviceable. This prose translation was easily the most "readable" of the versions, but that's in part because there were fewer sparks of brilliance to slow me down. It's hard to render a boring version of Homer--it's just too good to ruin--but this one felt flattest to me, the most like reading something assigned to me. Nota bene: this ranking may be entirely about my preference for poetic translations.
#3 - Stephen Mitchell (audio)
The language is far punchier here, and this adaptation is read more than ably by Alfred Molina. Mitchell is a bit too fond of the word "bitch" for my tastes. I'm not opposed to vulgarity, and I presume there is textual evidence for the extremity of the original language. But if you're going to call Hera a "devious bitch," you should at least balance it with a few vulgar epithets for Zeus. Maybe "almighty Zeus, known fucker of swans" or "Zeus, the shitbag of the skies" or "Zeus, the catty, drama-king of the clouds." He's the damn worst, and it's hard to watch him get a pass when every woman or goddess is called a bitch at one point or another. Take some liberties, man.
#2 - Richard Lattimore (hardback)
An exceptional, visceral translation and (others tell me) perhaps the most faithful of this quartet. No complaints about this one. None.
#1 - Robert Fagles (digital copy)
Again, the Lattimore is beautiful. My preference for the Fagles--a translation into poetry like all here save the Rieu--is little more than than: a preference. His translation gripped me and didn't let go, as I deliberately read Books XXII-XXIV in this translation to finish. My preference may be as simple as the transliterated names. Give me Achilles and Ajax (Fagles) and not Achilleus and Aias (Lattimore). Both of these versions bring this poem to vibrant and often horrifically gory life, and I'd be happy to reread either.
But yeah. Gimme Fagles.
As for the Iliad itself, I don't have much to add that hasn't been said better elsewhere--at least not yet--but I'll leave you with this final exhortation, in case you are a waffling potential reader. It's really written to a bygone Gardner who wasted 30 years not reading the Rieu copy he bought during undergrad:
Hell yes you should read the Iliad, jackass. The hell? You think this is about your preferences? You think maybe you won't like it? "Ew it's all like fighting and dumb old stuff and the style and..." It doesn't matter if you like it. That's not the point, dummy. If's f'n ART. Like, people fought and scratched for years to make sure this work carried on throughout the ages ART. Nothing shitty lasts this long. Nothing. Read the damn book, clown.
This was (to my discredit) my first spin through the full text, and I split it between four translations, ranked below with light commentary:
#4 - E. V. Rieu (paperback)
Serviceable. This prose translation was easily the most "readable" of the versions, but that's in part because there were fewer sparks of brilliance to slow me down. It's hard to render a boring version of Homer--it's just too good to ruin--but this one felt flattest to me, the most like reading something assigned to me. Nota bene: this ranking may be entirely about my preference for poetic translations.
#3 - Stephen Mitchell (audio)
The language is far punchier here, and this adaptation is read more than ably by Alfred Molina. Mitchell is a bit too fond of the word "bitch" for my tastes. I'm not opposed to vulgarity, and I presume there is textual evidence for the extremity of the original language. But if you're going to call Hera a "devious bitch," you should at least balance it with a few vulgar epithets for Zeus. Maybe "almighty Zeus, known fucker of swans" or "Zeus, the shitbag of the skies" or "Zeus, the catty, drama-king of the clouds." He's the damn worst, and it's hard to watch him get a pass when every woman or goddess is called a bitch at one point or another. Take some liberties, man.
#2 - Richard Lattimore (hardback)
An exceptional, visceral translation and (others tell me) perhaps the most faithful of this quartet. No complaints about this one. None.
#1 - Robert Fagles (digital copy)
Again, the Lattimore is beautiful. My preference for the Fagles--a translation into poetry like all here save the Rieu--is little more than than: a preference. His translation gripped me and didn't let go, as I deliberately read Books XXII-XXIV in this translation to finish. My preference may be as simple as the transliterated names. Give me Achilles and Ajax (Fagles) and not Achilleus and Aias (Lattimore). Both of these versions bring this poem to vibrant and often horrifically gory life, and I'd be happy to reread either.
But yeah. Gimme Fagles.
As for the Iliad itself, I don't have much to add that hasn't been said better elsewhere--at least not yet--but I'll leave you with this final exhortation, in case you are a waffling potential reader. It's really written to a bygone Gardner who wasted 30 years not reading the Rieu copy he bought during undergrad:
Hell yes you should read the Iliad, jackass. The hell? You think this is about your preferences? You think maybe you won't like it? "Ew it's all like fighting and dumb old stuff and the style and..." It doesn't matter if you like it. That's not the point, dummy. If's f'n ART. Like, people fought and scratched for years to make sure this work carried on throughout the ages ART. Nothing shitty lasts this long. Nothing. Read the damn book, clown.