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/lit/ - Literature

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11455161 No.11455161 [Reply] [Original]

Are The Iliad and The Odyssey actually really good or are they good to read because all other literature kind of stems from them?

>> No.11455256

READ THEM AND FIND OUT
READ THEM AND FIND OUT
READ THEM AND FIND OUT
READ THEM AND FIND OUT
READ THEM AND FIND OUT
READ THEM AND FIND OUTREAD THEM AND FIND OUT
READ THEM AND FIND OUT
READ THEM AND FIND OUT
READ THEM AND FIND OUT
READ THEM AND FIND OUT

>> No.11455378

>>11455161
They are genuinely great. This is the reason all other literature stems from them.

>> No.11455389

>>11455161
Haven't finished the Odyssey, but the Iliad is a genuinely thrilling read. Can't recommend it enough

>> No.11455394

>>11455389
>>11455378
If I already saw the movie Troy and the Odyssey movie, would I still enjoy these books?

>> No.11455405

>>11455161
Yes, and afterwards read the Aeneid and realize that it’s better than both of those books.

>> No.11455432

>>11455394
That depends - did you think Troy was a good movie?

>> No.11455460

>>11455394
Like everything else, if you saw the movie you don't need to see the book

>> No.11455523

>>11455256
This.Everyday we have to put up with a dozen threads by lazy kids asking these same kinds of questions about the Greeks over and over and over.

>>11455161
GET OFF YOUR COMPUTER AND READ IT! Then you can make up your own mind instead of being a faggot.

>> No.11455536

>>11455432
Loved Troy

>> No.11455553

>>11455536
Then you should probably stick to movies honestly.

>> No.11455563

>>11455553
Ok will do

>> No.11455808

>>11455553
Way to go. You ruined a mind with your pretentious snobbery.

>> No.11455818

both, not that you'll survive the catalogue of ships

>> No.11455851

>>11455818
Catalogue of ships was fucking nothing desu. Maybe I'm just used to Melville with hundreds of pages of the stuff instead of 20 pages. Catalogue was also thrilling desu on how it built up the army and each piece of it. Do people seriously stop at it?

>> No.11455861

>>11455851
the oldest pleb filter known to man

>> No.11455874

>>11455861
I was expecting a chapter (book, whatever) dedicated to it but it was a couple minutes and done. Kinda disappointed desu.

>> No.11455884

>>11455861
good to know. I'll brace myself, lol.

>"All men have fears, but the brave put down their fears and go forward, sometimes, to death, but always to victory."

>> No.11455885
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11455885

>>11455161
Yes, they're actually really good; however, in my opinion, they've come to unfairly overshadow other epic poetry such as the Song of the Nibelungs. Homer was truly a genius, especially when you consider that he spoke his poems (which is part of the reason that the catalogue of the ships is so impressive).

>> No.11456138

>>11455394
I would still recommend the books.
They really are awesome reads.

>> No.11456154

>>11455161
I don't know, I have never read him because I don't know Homeric Greek.

>> No.11456368

Is the T.E. Lawrence translation good? I'm a complete newb and would like my first read to be worth my time.

>> No.11456416
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11456416

>>11456368
There are many competing ideas as to which translation is the best. For my part, I'd suggest the Lattimore translation, which took little to no liberties in its realization. It's about as faithful to the original as possible; however, because of that, it lacks the poetic robustness typical of an epic poem, as much of the aesthetic value of the original was sacrificed in the name of literality. For that reason, you might want to read around after it (the ideal would be to learn Ancient Greek but I don't suspect you'd want to).

>> No.11456521

>>11456416
Thank you for a thoughtful answer. I will look into Lattimore and brush up on my greek later.

>> No.11456540

>>11455394
troy is an awful adaption and misses tbe point of the book

>> No.11456650

>>11455161
I found the Iliad incredibly repetitive and boring, but I can still see its importance and influence on the works that followed it. But endless battle after battle "ajax stabbed his spear into cleobulus, son of peleos keeper of the great horse steeds who married the daughter of X and did Y. He fell like a poplar tree, and his compatriots warded the Argives off from stripping his armor as he was dragged to safety."
^ around 75% of the book right there, have fun going through variations of that sentence for 400 pages

>> No.11456659

>>11456650
This is what happens when you read poetry in translation.

>> No.11456660

>>11455161
honestly, just read a summary of the themes of the Iliad instead of wasting 600 pages of reading time, or get a companion book for Plato that explains the references he makes. /lit/ if you want to call me a brainlet then prove me wrong and convince me why spending two weeks reading descriptions of sweaty men stabbing each other was worth it

>> No.11456668

>>11456659
Perfect, I'll spend a year learning ancient greek to better understand 400 pages of men killing each other

>> No.11456795

>>11456660
If this is the case for the Illias, then skip all books. If you want literature like a dog wants a treat, all you deserve is summary.

>> No.11456806

>>11455161
The Odyssey is really good yea. The Illiad is for people who were not athletes in HS

>> No.11456874

>>11456795
I can appreciate artful writing, and I think some of the passages of the Iliad are beautiful and profound. But why the fuck would I bother wading through hundreds of pages of battle scenes that blend together and don't differ in any meaningful way? Yes, war is terrible and has harsher consequences than many assume -- I got that after the very first clash of the armies. The ancients didn't have a speck of the volume of literature we have today, so why should anyone spend their time dragging themselves through thousands of lines of verse that they don't enjoy when they could spend that time reading something they do instead, and will get more insight from? I don't think that qualifies as animal behavior whatsoever.

>> No.11457707

I'm only interested in the glimpses of actual pre-classical history and culture in those works. The characters and plot are beyond boring