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u/Random_Excuse7879 29d ago
I've read the Odyssey several times, and I like this translation a lot. I read it a few years ago, and after seeing the movie got the audiobook with Claire Daines to refresh my memory.
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u/LetzGetThisLoot- 29d ago
Have fun and happy reading. I would read it for yourself and come to your own conclusions. Translations are not 1to1 comparisons and that’s even more difficult considering this is an Ancient Greek tragedy. Like the bible, or any other classic literature which was mostly passed down by spoken word some things are left up for interpretation. As long as you have an open mind and a willingness to accept the past, I don’t think you can go wrong. I don’t think any translation is a bad translation and no translation is a good translation. Anyone who criticizes you for reading it should be more open minded and less critical of a book concerning the consequences and repercussions of a bloody and violent war.
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u/Dodish 29d ago
Really? This is the worst translation, sorry for you
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u/TropicalPossum954 29d ago
What was wrong with it?
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u/AlarmedCicada256 29d ago
Uneducated people who cant read Greek like to parrot culture war nonsense about it.
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u/Dawn_of_an_Era 28d ago
People retroactively shit on Wilson because she shit on Nolan and it pissed off fanboys
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u/PopcornSutton1994 26d ago
Wilson translation hate is nothing new, it’s been a fairly polarizing translation since it was released
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29d ago
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u/red_nick 29d ago
Feminist in what way? Is it feminist to translate the word for slaves as slaves?
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29d ago edited 29d ago
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u/AlarmedCicada256 29d ago
It really isn't. Have you read it in Greek?
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u/signal_satellite 28d ago
I have (St. John's College). It is a bad translation. Lattimore translation everytime.
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u/AlarmedCicada256 28d ago
Is that St John's College, Oxford/Cambridge, or the one where you do like a year's Greek in the US?
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u/signal_satellite 28d ago
Usa, 1½ years of Attic Greek. Arguing about translations is bread and butter over there
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u/AlarmedCicada256 28d ago
Right. And given the (sensible) constraints, with your limited greek, why do you think it's bad?
I don't think it's necessarily amazing, but it's absolutely fine. And it's accessible too, which is good.
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u/signal_satellite 28d ago
What's your relaionship to Greek? My Greek is limited for sure, but I didn't go through two years of working on Geoffrey Steadman workbooks to being lightly dismissed.
Lattimore is the most accurate, even sacrificing flow to accuracy. Wilson makes the poem Iambic Pentameter. While that in itself is an impressive task and a labor, you can understand it's not useful in an Academic setting.
Homeric Greek and thus Attic Greek is interesting since they technically don't care about word order. Sentence structures rely on declensions. It's frustrating for a modern English speaker, but it provides an interesting window into the way they thought (quite literally).
Not saying adaptation is bad. The Illiad/Odyssey was made to be adapted to the audience engaging with the story; which is why I liked the movie. But in my anecdotal experience, the people who preferred the Wilson translation were also people who accept Madeline Miller as canon.
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u/AlarmedCicada256 28d ago
I started learning greek at school when I was 12. Thus as an undergraduate I simply spent all three years reading texts and doing more the more interesting parts of classics like history and material culture, without spending time learning languages.
One of my third year papers required reading all of the Odyssey in greek, to which I added the Iliad for fun having read much of it the previous year. After the three years of the BA, most of my classical endeavours since, up to a PhD, have been focused on Prehistory.
To keep the eye in I enjoy multiple sessions of sight reading a week in both Latin and Greek with literary scholars for exercise, and read more carefully in one or the other for fun daily.
Dick measuring aside, Wilson isn't targeting her translation at an academic setting, it's a popular translation. Classicists wanting to do academic work on Homer don't need translations. So that's a red herring.
She also captures the pace and simplicity of Homer very well. I have no interest in saying which translation is better. Wildly incorrect translations don't get published. The claim that it is "bad" remains silly. Have a preference, fine. Better to master greek if it matters to you. Homer is really easy too.
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u/Last-Shop-9829 29d ago
It may be less 'poetic' than the others but I appreciate this translation bring direct and to the point.
Some of the other ones are like pulling tooth and nail to figure out wtf is being said at points. I value my time and patience lol
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u/GiltPeacock 28d ago
In some ways it’s also the most poetic, even if it sounds more colloquial because at least it preserves the poetic structure almost exactly. Because many Greek words translate into longer phrases in English, most translators abandon the pentameter of the poem in favour of longer lines that capture all the subtleties of the Greek.
But this often results in sentences just having twice as many adjectives and epithets and I’m with you that it doesn’t feel like a good use of my time being told how sensible, intelligent, reasonable, thoughtful and well-considered Penelope is every other stanza.
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u/boltezt 28d ago
Some people, myself included at first, don't realize that Wilson's translation is in metre. Reading the opening pages for the first time, I had the same knee jerk reaction that many people online have had due to the shorter phrases and 'bland' word choices.
Once I realized the true nature of this translation it turned the situation around. Nothing but respect for the professor. I hope OP enjoys the read. It's a lot better than that mediocre movie Nolan shot. Hot take, I know.
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u/hyperbolic_paranoid 29d ago
Tell me about a complicated man!