/lit/ - Literature

What's the preferred translation of The Iliad? I've heard good things about Robert Fagles and Alexander Pope but I'm not sure which would be the better option for someone who has never read it before.

What is the best translation?

What is the best print copy?

So Patroclus was Achille's boytoy?

Okay /lit/, I have an Amazon cart of over 70 books. Inevitably tomorrow I will receive an Amazon gift card. By what method do I decide what I should get? There's lots of basics in there.

Am I a brainlet if I find it impossible to get through the Illiad? It's just so boring, there are just endless amounts of irrelevant names, fighting, killing other irrelevant names. The book is just an avalanche of proper nouns that cannot be committed to memory. Is this a normal reaction? It often feels exhausting to read it because I feel like I need to remember all the names, but I just give up and it gets boring.

So I really did decide to start with the Greeks. And honestly, I don't get it. My main impression is that it's just a bunch of Proper Nouns fighting. Sounds silly, but that's just what it seems like to me. It's just endless amounts of names, names, names. I don't understand how you can possibly keep them all straight. How can you be immersed in the story when every paragraph new names are introduced?

What are the best translations of the Illiad and the Odyssey?

I want to pick up a copy of the Iliad. I have read parts of Fagles' translation of The Odyssey and didn't care for it. I've decided to start with The Iliad instead, and I'm torn between Lattimore and Pope's translations.

So, Lattimore or Pope?

Hi, I almost finished pic related and I really enjoy it. I didn't dig the battle descriptions so much, but I loved the fights between Gods and the multiple dilemmas that the characters experience. What is your opinion on it?

What should I expect from the Odyssey? Is it as long? I don't know if I should read it right after or wait a few weeks.

That's all I was thinking while reading it