/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.16758883]

What's the best translation The Odyssey and Iliad?

[Anonymous No.16758895]

Homer. The Ossian of the South.

[Anonymous No.16758902]

>translation

[Anonymous No.16758957]

>>16758902
I'm sorry m8 I'm not wasting 10y of my life just to read them in the original Homeric Greek.

[Anonymous No.16758966]

>>16758957
>takes 10 years to learn greek
hahahahhahaahh. mate. no.

[Anonymous No.16758970]

>>16758883
Faggles

[Anonymous No.16758978]

>>16758957
Doesn't take that long, most college level Ancient Greek courses take about 4 semesters, but after the first two you should already be able to read in it at a moderate level.

[Anonymous No.16758987]

Can someone who actually reads Greek give examples and explain them?

[Anonymous No.16758993]

>>16758978
But the only reason to read it in the original is to get to a depth you couldn't get to by reading a translation. That will take years, a college course isn't going to cut it. If you only want to read it in the original for bragging rights, just read a translation instead.

[Anonymous No.16759044]

>>16758883
>tfw Greek
>tfw never read either the Iliad or the Odyssey because I don't know which edition is the best and contains the ancient text, plus the translations and notes
>tfw I have no to ask
>tfw I search and find some editions broken down in five volumes or whatever the fuck
>tfw I'm too scared to buy one at random

[Anonymous No.16759062]

Voß, of course.

[Anonymous No.16759064]

>>16758993
Usually they can take a course in translating ancient Greek texts right after though. It really doesn't take a full decade, but it's still a two years investment and they read translations on the first semester anyway.

[Anonymous No.16759084]

>>16759064
Why do you think you can do a better job after 2 years and a translation course than someone who's been at it for decades, like the major translators? My point was that to get more out of the original, you need to be intimately familiar with Ancient Greek, and that will take close to a decade at least. After that course you'll probably be able to do a serviceable translation, but you won't be digging any deeper than the major translators that came before you.

[Anonymous No.16759101]

>>16758987
No one here reads Greek. The translation meme is just redditors upvoting themselves.

[Anonymous No.16759115]

>>16759084
I disagree, after two years you'd be perfectly capable of reading and understanding ancient Greek. Not even priests take that long to learn Latin well enough to read the vulgate.

[Anonymous No.16759131]

>>16759115
But those priests have experience reading it in other languages as well, and do nothing else but dealing with the Bible.
>after two years you'd be perfectly capable of reading and understanding ancient Greek
Can you read? I never said you couldn't. I said you wouldn't be able to do a better job than the major translators.

[Anonymous No.16759210]

>>16758970
This but minus a 'g'
Fagles just werks if you're english-only

[Anonymous No.16759245]

>>16759101
Le thumbs upper if u agree

[Anonymous No.16760466]

>>16759245
Outed

[Anonymous No.16760558]

>>16758993
Reading it in English is hideous and the translations unpoetic, Greek sentence structure and versification is too different. If you can't be bothered with Greek you might try a Slavic language translation instead

[Anonymous No.16760882]

>>16758883
What are the best in Spanish? Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous No.16760918]

>>16758883
Powell's translation of the Iliad is pretty good.
Emily Wilson's translation of the Odyssey is good

[Anonymous No.16760950]

>>16758883
Erland Lagerlöf

[Anonymous No.16760982]

>>16758883
>>16760918
You could also consider getting the Loeb Classical Library editions published by Harvard, though they are more interested in literal translations and just settle for translating the works into prose. The nice thing about Loebs though is that they are often used as a quick reference by Classics professors because they have the English translation on one side with the ancient greek on the other. In addition, the editors tend to be fairly conservative when it comes to textual issues (ie discrepancies between the manuscripts).

Powell and Wilson try to translate them into a poetic style

[Anonymous No.16761092]

I'm tired of this shit. Put it in the fucking sticky. I swear this q is asked every fucking day

[Anonymous No.16761106]

>>16761092
maybe don't fucking come to the board every day. Pick up a book perhaps?

[Anonymous No.16761109]

>>16760982
Someone said Loeb is abridged. I'm assuming retarded?
And what's with the glued Loeb? Is it temporary, a mistake run, or is this permanent?

[Anonymous No.16761209]

>>16761109
retarded.
I don't know what you mean by the glued loeb? Like the binding is glued?

[Anonymous No.16761225]

>>16761209
>binding is glued?
Yeah, I got some like this and I saw others complaining about it.

[Anonymous No.16761303]

>>16761225
That's disappointing to hear. My physical Loebs are older and I have access to the online library, so I haven't really gotten any freshly produced ones in a while. Hopefully, it's just for the time being or a mistake.

[Anonymous No.16761307]

>>16758883
e

[Anonymous No.16761323]

>>16759131
What better job could he do than read it in the original language? Are you seriously suggesting that a translator can offer a more faithful version than the original??

Translations are a compromise, if you don't care to learn the language concede that and continue on, your desperate cope to justify a translation as being preferable to learning the language disgusts me.

[Anonymous No.16761337]

I really liked the Fitzgerald Iliad.

[Anonymous No.16761368]

>>16761337
same

[Anonymous No.16761565]

the fagless

[Anonymous No.16761720]

>>16759062
came here to post this. Goethe also read the Voß-translation so its based.

[Anonymous No.16761744]

>>16760882
I like Alfonso Reyes translation, I don't know many others sorry

[Anonymous No.16761768]

Why do people care about the translation of these two stories so much?

In the end, Troy falls and Odysseus is a chad. What else is there to interpret?

[Anonymous No.16761783]

>>16761768
language, there can be big differences depeneding on writing style/translation as to the description of events althought the outcome might be the same the finer details are missed or added

[Anonymous No.16761794]

>>16758966
Takes a long time to proficiently learn ancient greek, yes

[Anonymous No.16761849]

>>16761794
>1 year is a long time

[Anonymous No.16761864]

https://iliad-translations.com/translation-comparison/

maybe this will be of use, it helps compare the translation to find one that best suits you, similar to those bible verse comparison sites

[Anonymous No.16761871]

>>16761849
For people who have to put food on the table, and want to enjoy their social and familial lives, and want to also enjoy reading and art, and want to maintain some level of connection with nature, it takes a lot longer than a year. We’re not all neets who can drop everything in their lives, ie youtube, to study ancient greek.

[Anonymous No.16761988]

>>16761720
Didn't Goethe already know Greek?

[Anonymous No.16762147]

>>16761871
>getting baited this hard