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/lit/ - Literature

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1227743 No.1227743 [Reply] [Original]

How do you know which translation to trust when it comes to ancient literature? There's usually several translations of the same piece.

I've been looking at three or four different translations of Metamorphoses and other ancient Greek literature and they're all really different, even though they basically say the same thing.

Just not sure which one I'd get the most out of.

>> No.1227749

To example, I'll copy the first sentence of several different versions.

Translated by Henry O'Riley:

>My design leads me to speak of forms into new bodies.

Oxford Classics:

>Of bodies changed to other forms I tell;...

Translated by Charles Martin:

>My mind leads me to speak now of forms changed

>> No.1227753

jim

>> No.1227754
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1227754

>> No.1227755

The second one seems to neglect the fact that the narrator's mind/design is the cause for speaking in new forms, but the middle one neglects to make this distinction. The first is written in paragraph form, while the later two are written in poem form.

>> No.1227763

>>1227755
I recommend a verse translation, not a prose translation.

It doesn't really matter all that much which you choose. Read a little from each (at a library or store) and pick whichever seems to grab your attention.

Most Greek literature begins with the poet/storyteller calling the muse and asking her to tell the story for him. It does help to know about Greek practices, history, and mythology before reading. If you can get an edition with footnotes that's good.

>> No.1227770

>>1227763
Yeah, I pretty much decided to go with which one appeals to me most, which was a verse translation.

Just wondering how other anons picked between translations.

>> No.1227777

>Metamorphoses
>and other ancient Greek literature

Metamorphoses was a Latin text, but I'll forgive you.

I took a course on ancient texts and we looked at Metamorphoses as translated by Rolfe Humphries, Indiana books.Also, The Odyssey, Allen Mandellbaum, by Bantam Classics and The Oresteia, Robert Fagles, Penguin Classics. I guess the prof didn't want anything to do with Oxford classics.

In the end when looking at ancient poetry, most of the artful use of language is lost in translation, and the only reason you would look at one translation over another is to spend more/less money and to be on the same level when it comes to lectures.

>> No.1227803

When I asked this same question months ago someone posted >>1227754. I picked Humphries and don't regret it at all. Every page was mindblowing. If you can get some privacy read out loud. It makes a big difference and really makes the poetry stand out.

>> No.1227805

>>1227777
Most of the books are about the same price and it isn't for a class, so I guess just go with whatever one I like best? I didn't really like the Oxford Classics one either. It seemed to neglect information the others had.

>> No.1227807

>>1227803
Thanks for the suggestion. I do like that translation.

>> No.1227813

>>1227754
Was Ezra Pound speaking out of his ass as usual (I can't stand him) or is Golding's translation really the most beautiful and perfect example of narrative poetry? Did he seriously prefer it to Paradise Lost?

>> No.1228168

>>1227813
Ezra Pound was a fascist and a hack but he wasn't lying about Golding. The language, the poetry, the rendition, even the meter are unbelievably beautiful. If you can find a copy you must read it, especially if you have any intention of ever becoming a poet.

>> No.1228283

i think you should just trust the one you enjoy the most. no translation can be 100% accurate.

>> No.1228386

west is best i'd say

>> No.1228399

If you can't translate it yourself on-the-fly, you really don't know shit and aren't even qualified to read the text. You certainly won't understand it.

Caveat, before you flame me: this was the predominant view for ~4,560 years of human history; the entitlement culture might think it's outrageous, but true intellectuals don't.

>> No.1228411

>>1228168
>>1227813

I think Ezra Pound also said that Golding's translation was better than the original.

Which is debatable (since you can see in "Homage to Sextus Propertius" precisely the degree to which Pound understood Latin about as well as he did Chinese, which is to say: with great feeling but no particular accuracy) but still, Golding's Ovid is a sort of amazing literary monument, and as far as Pound was concerned, it was consistently underrated while Milton is consistently overrated.

Golding's Ovid is certainly worth reading. It was a huge influence on Shakespeare, for one, and it also gives you the same sense that Shakespeare does, of an English language writer who's excited about the newness and possibilities of the English language.

>> No.1228413

>>1228399

gutta cavat lapidem.

>> No.1228415

>>1228411
Cool total bullshit, bro.