The "Siege of the Iliad" over at the Chronicle is a fun, fast read. I appreciate its tight focus on the issue of translation style -- it's very easy (very easy) to become pedantic or get bogged down in scholarly minutiae when talking about Homer.
But the Iliad appealing mainly to fighters or manly men? Nah. It's actually striking how many prominent English language Homerists are women. And Simone Weil's "The Iliad or the Poem of Force" makes a cogent (and passionate) argument for viewing Homer's poem as anti-war.
I do wonder why more women haven't translated Homer. It may be a perception issue, where there's a concern that such a translation would be taken less seriously. It seems odd, when nearly every other Greek genre has been translated by both men and women, but gender stereotypes can be odd like that.
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5 comments:
Have you read Alice Oswald's recent work "Memorial"? It's a beautiful "translation" (interpretation?) of Homer.
Thanks for the recommendation; I requested a copy at the library today. Love those classicists that are also creative writers!
BTW what did you think of it, if you've read it?
I'm still waiting. Our ILL is slow.
I love your contemporary take on this otherwise English classic. You give definitive review that can be posted for digital preservation for your contemporary genre.
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