/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.2416657]

[Anonymous No.2416658]

>Lattinmore
>Rieu
It's like you're trying to make me puke.

[Anonymous No.2416668]

[Anonymous No.2416669]

>>2416658
>Rieu
>bad

[Anonymous No.2416671]

>>2416657

[Anonymous No.2416674]

>>2416671
Oh lawdy, I love that gif. Post it at every opportunity.

[Anonymous No.2416723]

>>2416669
I feel he doesn't do its status as an Epic justice.

[Anonymous No.2416727]

>>2416657
how is this a debate
everyone that lacks an interest in fellating javelins thinks the odyssey is better

[Anonymous No.2416735]

The Illiad
>The struggle of thousands of warriors and the tragedy of Hector's fight
The Odyssey
>Odysseus fucks and/or maims everything in sight

[Anonymous No.2416757]

>>2416735
But he's sad all the time so it's okay.

[OUTRAGEOUS No.2416788]

I know I'm in the minority, but The Iliad. Every time I explain how beautiful the warfare and maiming and so on is people look at me like I'm crazy. Also, I have a lit-crush on Diomedes.

[Anonymous No.2416794]

>>2416788
Seconded. I actually love the unique prose used "Menelaus master of war-cry runs toward the area where the fighting is thickest. He spots the legendary Hector Son of Priam he misses but his shot is not wasted a it hits this farmer from fuckin nigger-indicake." pwety kewl

[Anonymous No.2416797]

Are there comics of these yet?

[Anonymous No.2416803]

People who prefer historical fiction and war drama will probably pick the Iliad. People who prefer Sinbad's tales will probably pick the Odyssey.

It'd make more sense to debate whether the Odyssey or the Aenied was a better adventure tale.

[Anonymous No.2416807]

>Greeks
>LOL

The Aeneid by a mile.

[Anonymous No.2416813]

I've only read the Illiad but I was bored to death by it.

[Anonymous No.2416815]

Here's my new ultra-abridged translation of Homer for modern consumption

>The struggle of thousands of warriors
>the tragedy of Hector's fight
>Odysseus fucks and/or maims everything in sight
>the end

[OUTRAGEOUS No.2416829]

>>2416807
Wait... there's someone who actually likes the Aeneid? All dat Augustan propaganda in it ruins it for me.

[Anonymous No.2416834]

>>2416829
Not that guy, but I find that no worse than all the repeated formulae and epithets in Homer.

[Anonymous No.2416837]

HOLD ON MOTHERFUCKERS

EVERYBODY KNOWS THE ODYSSEY IS THE SUPERIOR BOOK, NOW FUCK OFF

[Anonymous No.2416841]

It really just comes down to what your values and opinions are, I believe.

One one hand, you have the Iliad, an epic that clearly preaches stoic ethics. It has strong themes of patriotism, loyalty, and piety.

Then you have the Odyssey, an epic that preaches epicurean ethics. It stresses humanism, while demonstrating disloyalty and irreverence.

[Anonymous No.2416844]

I liked the Iliad for contrasting flawed and tragic but meaningful human struggles with the struggles of the perfect immortal gods, which seem like juvenile/immature trifles

[Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ No.2416997]

The Illiad
>A sissyboy "immortal" star quarterback who dies, leaving Odysseus to save the day with brain power.
The Odyssey
>Odysseus defies a god and a ton of monsters just to get back to his wife and son.
You know Athena wanted him.

[Anonymous No.2417104]

>>2416834
Well, you have to remember that it started as an oral poem, so he had to use the formulae to stall for time while he remembered the next lines.

[Anonymous No.2417186]

I loved "The Iliad" and genuinely found "The Odyssey" boring (both Fagles' translations).

Everyone I tell this to thinks I'm crazy.

[Anonymous No.2417197]

>>2417186
No, that's pretty legit, the Iliad is a lot more interesting (imo)

[Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ No.2417563]

>>2417186
>>2417197
You are one or more of the following
>Gay
>Jocks
>Vidya players
Aren't you?

[Anonymous No.2417850]

>>2416997
>Implying Odysseus is a hero and not a bumbling idiot and a terrible leader.

[Anonymous No.2417869]

I also like the Iliad better than the Odyssey.

[Anonymous No.2417882]

The Aenied -_-

[Anonymous No.2417895]

>>2417186
>>2417197

Agreed.

Before I actually got around to reading them, I always assumed that Odysseus was the well-rounded character and Achilles was the ZOMG INVINCIBLE Gary Stu, but it's actually the other way around.

Achilles is interesting because even though he's invincible, he still almost loses the war for the Greeks because of his bad character. The psychological drama in the Iliad comes from the fact that all the other Greeks have to deal with the fact that their biggest badass is also a whiny crybaby who refuses to fight when he can't get his way.

Meanwhile, Odysseus solves all his problems easily because he's always the coolest guy in the room and everyone loves him. He washes up naked on the shore of an island? He's handsome and charming that the natives just have to throw him a feast and give him lots of gifts. Circe turns his men into pigs? The gods love him so much that they make him immune, and then he's such a pimp that he can easily seduce her into curing his men.

For all the talk about "clever Odysseus," you never actually see him solve a problem with his wits. Everything comes easily to him because he's a handsome badass with the favor of the gods.

[Anonymous No.2417914]

>>2417895
Right, I know I'm a pedant, but it never states anywhere in the Iliad that Achilleus is invincible. There are stories about Thetis bathing him in the Styx etc, but they came later on. He is a dick, but not without good reason. He's perfectly within his heroic rights by refusing to fight until his honour is restored. Refusing the embassy sent to him and defiling Hektor's body are about the worst things he does which actually transgress Ancient Greek heroic etiquette. Agamemnon is the biggest douche on that battlefield.

I don't know how I feel about Odysseus. He's more a devious liar than charming and he makes some truly disastrous mistakes as a leader. He is pretty much single handedly responsible for the destruction of the 12 (?) ships he took to Troy. I have to wonder how far he'd get without Athene. Plus, why the hell does he do that to Laertes at the end. It's just cruel. I like him, but at the same time, I don't.

[Anonymous No.2417921]

>>2417895
>For all the talk about "clever Odysseus," you never actually see him solve a problem with his wits. Everything comes easily to him because he's a handsome badass with the favor of the gods.
what about the cyclops

[Anonymous No.2417922]

>>2417563
Nope, none of those things. "The Odyssey" seriously underwhelmed me. The odyssey itself seemed to have been skimmed over in favour of lengthy descriptions of Odysseus crying, eating, and receiving presents. And the unending build-up before he slaughters the suitors . . . painful.

[Anonymous No.2417931]

>>2417921

Odysseus did nothing. It was Noman who blinded the cyclops. :3

[Anonymous No.2417942]

>>2417931

[Anonymous No.2417945]

>>2417921

Fair enough, that's the exception. But even there it's just a trick to distract the cyclops long enough to let him be an action hero and heave a spike through his eye.

[Anonymous No.2417961]

>>2417945
>before revealing his name and dooming his crew