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The First English Translation of ‘The Odyssey’ by a Woman Was Worth the Wait
Washington Post ^ | November 16 | Madeline Miller

Posted on 11/17/2017 7:49:01 PM PST by nickcarraway

Attempting a new translation of “The Odyssey” is like directing “Hamlet.” Much of your audience knows the work well, and they take their seats with entrenched expectations and the intonations of favorite performances reverberating in their heads. At the same time, though, you will have audience members who have never seen the play, for whom you provide the introduction to a giant of Western literature. And let us not forget those who are there under duress, dreading the upcoming hours of boredom. You must find a way to speak to all these disparate groups, sneaking past the defenses of the devotees while drawing in those less familiar. It’s an ambitious task, one which calls for skill, cleverness and strong nerves, qualities that define “The Odyssey’s” wily protagonist himself.

The poem of Odysseus’s epic journey was composed in about the 8th century B.C., and its tale of a brilliant, exhausted veteran beset by dangers and yearning for home has been collecting admirers ever since. It is tradition, when reviewing a translation, to set a passage alongside its predecessors in translations by Fagles, Lattimore, Pope, etc. The reviewer then lays out the ways that the new translation either falls short or excels, quibbling over word choice and linguistic effects. This is a fun exercise and not without merit, but in the end, such a piecemeal approach is like judging productions of “Hamlet” on their “To Be or Not To Be.” It does not answer essential questions about the work as a whole: Does the translator have a thoughtful, comprehensive vision? Does she have the skill to sustain it? Does she chart a coherent course between often mutually exclusive virtues like literalism, musicality, clarity, beauty and readability? And most importantly, does she tell the story well?

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; History; Society
KEYWORDS: districtofcolumbia; epicpoetry; godsgravesglyphs; greekliterature; homer; iliad; madelinemiller; odyssey; poetry; samuelbutler; trojanwar; troy; washingtoncompost; washingtonpost
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To: nickcarraway

Seems appropriate, I read that some translators thought the Odyssey itself was written by a woman, perhaps by Homer’s daughter..


21 posted on 11/17/2017 11:07:46 PM PST by Toughluck_freeper
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To: nickcarraway

I’ll hold off for the transgender translation.


22 posted on 11/17/2017 11:11:27 PM PST by windsorknot
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To: tumblindice

When I was 9, I tried to read a Nineteenth Century translation of the Odyssey. 19th Century literary language is very dense and wordy; I managed to get through the first chapter.


23 posted on 11/18/2017 1:48:59 AM PST by VietVet
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To: vladimir998

When I was in High School, we read (parts of) the Aeneid in Latin. (Wish I could remember enough Latin to quote from it, now.)


24 posted on 11/18/2017 1:54:24 AM PST by VietVet
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To: VietVet
The famous opening line:

Arma virumque cano ...

"I sing of arms and a man..."

So there you have it. A supposedly feminist translator spends her time on an epic poem about a male warrior. Not that its a bad piece of scholarship, but kind of ironic that the media is blowing it up (as usual) for being something its not.

25 posted on 11/18/2017 2:07:42 AM PST by chimera
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To: Arm_Bears

Perhaps the reference to a translator’s gender should be viewed with a look at Constance Garnett’s translations of the Russian classics - she single-handedly slaughtered those books in pose, style, and meanings, rendering them nearly unreadable.

So there might be something to the gender thing.


26 posted on 11/18/2017 2:52:19 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: nickcarraway

If you want to read a very good historical fiction version of the events at Troy, look into David Gemmells Troy series.

His version of Odysseus, Helen, Hector and the events at troy was one of the best historical fiction I have read in a long time.


27 posted on 11/18/2017 2:57:36 AM PST by sl-17b
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To: nickcarraway

Translation or interpretation?


28 posted on 11/18/2017 3:50:37 AM PST by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: nickcarraway

Is Medusa a dude?


29 posted on 11/18/2017 5:23:26 AM PST by BBB333 (The Power Of Trump Compels You!)
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To: nickcarraway

OMG!!! OF COURSE a great translation of some great historical piece of literature is possible for a great translator to do, no matter their gender.

Why wasn’t, and why can’t the event be celebrated without it being a “gender-specific” event? Because then it wouldn’t be part of an agenda outside the field of good literature.


30 posted on 11/18/2017 5:43:02 AM PST by Wuli
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To: tumblindice

‘Circle of Life’ and all that rot? ;)


31 posted on 11/18/2017 5:50:43 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set!)
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To: vladimir998

Most likely not!


32 posted on 11/18/2017 5:51:32 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set!)
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To: Verginius Rufus; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...
Note: this topic is from 11/17/2017. Thanks nickcarraway.

33 posted on 07/02/2018 12:35:07 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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To: Arm_Bears

Yes, and today we gave such a spectrum of sexual flavors to select from.
Idiotic concept

If ANYTHING, the world of Mycenaean, “Dark Age” and Classical Greece was DOMINATED by males.


34 posted on 07/02/2018 7:19:06 PM PDT by ZULU (MAGA)
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To: dr_lew

I’m currently reading the Lattimore translation for the
third time and understand there is a new translation out
also.


35 posted on 07/02/2018 7:29:23 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: SunkenCiv
I caught this post rather late. I read the Odyssey when I was in the 4th grade much to the derision of our school Librarian.

One of the things that I noticed is that Old Big Ears actually loved his wife as opposed to most Greeks of that ERA who thought that most women were Bat Sh&t Crazy.

Remember most wives in Hellenic times lived on the second floor while men slept on the first.

36 posted on 07/02/2018 7:56:58 PM PDT by Little Bill (VN 65 - 68)
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To: Little Bill

The men stayed up late, drinking mingled wine and water, and staring at the wall (because TV hadn’t been invented). Drove their wives crazy.


37 posted on 07/03/2018 12:55:03 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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