/lit/ - Literature

>read all about nietzsche
>read all about german idealism
>read about analytical philosophy
>wow all of this sounds interesting can't wait to get to it, better start with the classics asap
>start with pic related
>first two lines boring as fuck
>literally just about some gay war
>DUDE BIG EPIC SPEECH BEFORE THE EVENT LMAO
holy fuck this shit is so boring. can i skip and go straight to aurelius, spinoza or schiller? if not then i'll just go back to reading french surrealist literature of the late 19c early 20c. far more interesting

Why does everyone hate Fagle's translations of the Illiad and Odyssey? Is the hate for him just a meme or something? I read Lattimore, and I read Fagles, and I found that Fagles was consistently more enjoyable. Sure, Lattimore may be more dead-accurate, but I think that Fagles actually captures the spirit of the poem better, and captures Homer's style better. Fagles poem is incredibly rapid and brisk, moves with a steady past and keeps you going along, very easily and naturally. With Lattimroe I found I kept getting hung up on the lines and going back to get their full meaning. I feel like Homer's poems were meant to be read in a very natural, brisk, almost simply sense, which Fagles captures perfectly. His rendering is simply the most powerful so I don't understand all the hate. Is he really not respected at all among the "serious" readership?

I find it oddly fun and interesting to look at the text of different translations and compare them. Here is the same passage from Lattimore, Fagles and Pope from the Illiad. Which do you think is the best?

Fagles:

Now with the squadrons marshaled, captains leader each,
the Trojans came with cries and the din of war like wildfowl
when the long hoarse cries of cranes sweep on against the sky
and the great formations flee from winter's grim ungodly storms,
flying in force, shrieking south to the Ocean gulfs, speeding
blood and death to the Pygmy warriors, launching at daybreak
savage battle down upon their heads. But Achaea's armies
came on strong in silence, breathing combat-fury,
hearts ablaze to defend each other to the death.

Lattimore:

Now when the men of both sides were set in order by
their leaders,
the Trojans came on with clamor and shouting, like
wildfowl,
as when the clamor of cranes goes high to the heavens,
when the cranes escape the winter time and the rains
unceasing
and clamorously wing their way to the streaming Ocean,
bringing to the Pygmaian men bloodshed and destruction:
at daybreak they bring on the baleful battle against them.
But the Achaian men went silently, breathing valor,
stubbornly minded each in his heart to stand by the others.

Pope:

Thus by their leaders’ care each martial band
Moves into ranks, and stretches o’er the land.
With shouts the Trojans, rushing from afar,
Proclaim their motions, and provoke the war
So when inclement winters vex the plain
With piercing frosts, or thick-descending rain,
To warmer seas the cranes embodied fly,
With noise, and order, through the midway sky;
To pigmy nations wounds and death they bring,
And all the war descends upon the wing,
But silent, breathing rage, resolved and skill’d
By mutual aids to fix a doubtful field,

Did Robert Fagles make the quintessential English translations of the Illiad and the Odyssey?

>>10076121

This isn't nearly.as good as I thought it would be
Is it just the Fagles translation or is it that hard to compete with KJV prose?
This feels like a highschool copy

I just finished the Iliad. Should I move on directly to the Odyssey, or would I benefit from reading something else in between, like critical works, or anything like that?

So I've just finished the Iliad, and I'd like to read some commentaries/essays/etc. Just secondary literature in general. I've already got my eye on either Willcock's Companion or his entire two-volume commentated version of MacMillan's translation.

Anyone have anything else to recommend? I guess we could talk about the book in general as well; I read Fagle's translation.

My name never gets guessed


>here you go dave

Heyyy, this book's pretty good. Just finished book four, looking forward to Diomedes being dope af.

The Iliad is a masculine man pumping action, start with that and work your your way up to /Manlit/ with Hemingway

Why is 'The Iliad' so prominent in the western cannon? Yes, I am completely new to literature. I understand it's one of the first texts in the cannon and that its symbolism echoes through to the age of chaos we have now. But am I missing something even more fundamental?

>cough
READ THE ILLIAD

seriously, look at the story and structure