/lit/ - Literature

>>23332275
the iliad sucks it's like faust you read it for the /lit/ cred

>>23332275
Maybe try Fagles or another translation. Fagles is pretty good and modern, and being exposed to different translations will make you aware of different interpretations and textures of the original text. Of course, reading the original would preobably be best, or even having the original text, learning enough about Greek to be able to parse out individual words and their various translations into English to get a hands on approach to the understand the text.

>>23332275
try fitzgerald and mandelbaum, then thank me later

Read Fitzgerald or Lombardo

>>23332275

Try Merrill’s translation for similar accuracy and faithfulness but much better poetry

>>23332305
What didn't you like about it, anon?

>>23332275
>>23332305
You just don't have it. Simple as.

>>23332275
You were filtered by Lattimore’s poetry. It happens to tastelets.

Why is there all this self-righteous posturing whenever Homer is brought up, it’s incredibly irritating

>>23332275
Try listening to the audiobook. It's meant to be heard.

>>23332305
Faust 1 at least is good though.

>>23332646
Because Homer is the bane of schoolboys since time immemorial. Most people easily get filtered by him because he has long passages which are boring and descriptions of characters which serve no purpose and this takes up a good chunk of his work - BUT those few passages of beauty and psychological insight (see all Book 23 of the Odyssey for instance) not only make it worth the rest of the slog but also are some of the finest words ever put down o for posterity.

Try the alexander pope version

>>23332646
It has nothing to do with the self, save the selves of those who get filtered by him. If you read the work of a man whose work has been inspiring countless men—genius and pleb alike—for over 2000 years and you feel NOTHING, then you just simply do not have IT! You lack a fundamental part of the masculine essence! You are an accidental scribble in the signature of your genetic forebears—an ink drop, a smudge; at least, as far as it pertains to Art. From a human point of view anyway. God made you for something...better ask Him what.

>>23332275
Why does Homer's works continue to filter people?

>>23332275
Your problem is reading the Lattimore translation and not Pope, who renders it much better and more fluidly (and therefore more enjoyably!)

>>23332776
>>23333073
No one wants to read witty little turns of phrases when reading Homer.

>>23333083
Your loss... more of Pope's resplendence for me.

>>23332802
On the contrary, Homer is one of the most feminine voices from antiquity. The breadth with which Penelope secretly is the main character while everyone else’s faults shine through including her idiot son and her lying husband. It is not hard to see Homer’s voice as one lying in the back behind an unfinished tapestry prying onwards at the violence occurring before him but certainly taking no part in it or condoning it.

>>23332319
Kek, it's exactly like the song of Roland
>Pierre, duke of yada yada yada *twenty lines later* was the bravest french who are all very brave and the most pious christian who are all very pious
>Abdulillah, duke of yada yada hada *twenty lines later* was the most cowardly and treacherous of the pagan dog
>Pierre charged and rammed Abdulillah so hard his chest was split in two
>Robert, count of yada yada yada the strongest of all *same shit for the rest of the song*
These were just written to make all those families known I guess

>>23333073
/lit/ is a Fagles board.

>>23333273
Fagless? I assure you it isn't.

>>23332275
>Does Homer simply not translate well to English?
You really think Homeric verses could ever translate well to a subhuman tranny language?

>>23333268
Book Eleven of the Iliad is the worst of the whole thing when it comes to this. Oh, it is a chore.

>>23333328
The fact that the carnage persists for an entire 10 books while only being broken up by Hera seducing Jove is hilarious. I love it though.

>>23333338
It is theorized that the brutal war scenes of books 10 to 18 were the ur-Iliad and the other stuff was added to pad it out and give the story some deeper depth beyond “____ killled —— son of the —-.” It is a theory but I am unsure if I buy it.

>>23333083
The iliad wasnt written into stone. It was made to be reinvented. For anglos, popes verse and "wit" is perfect.

The new version written by emily wilson is perfect for fat ugly women.

>>23333273
Uhh...no.

>>23333508
Big if true, but I doubt its validity.

>>23332275
That's a literalist clunky translation. Get one of these
- Robert Fitzgerald
- Anthony Verity
- Robert Fagles

>>23333140
HAHAHAHA! Keep coping. You can, "on the contrary," your ass off. It doesn't change a thing. I've already said what there is to say.

I have the same problem, OP. Come back to it every few years, especially after I can look back and see my literary development. Have no problem with other tough texts like Ulysses, but either Homer doesn't translate well into English or I am getting filtered still. Yes, I have tried multiple translations.

What's the best French translation?

οὔποτ' ἀναγνώσεις τὴν Ἰλιάδα κακοκαισχράγγλε

>>23332711
Yeah this is a very concise explanation of it, the issue is that people are used to polished, streamlined literary products so when they encounter a more multi-purpose, less user-friendly primitive work, especially when they know they're supposed to like it, it sets them off.

>>23334003
The writer of the Odyssey was possible a woman. I believe it.

>>23334210
It’s not the most “fun” book ever written and it takes multiple readings and secondary commentary to maybe get it but when you finally get it you are all the better for it. The typical unaccustomed reader comes across one arid chapter that doesn’t immediately grip them and they drop the book.

>>23332275
It filters all pseuds if that is what you are asking.

>>23334274
No, it filters children and people unaccustomed to classic lit of antiquity. “Pseuds” are the ones who pretend it doesn’t have arid parts or that the catalogue of ships for instance, is edge of your seat fare.