Ginnie's review
Iliad by Homer
FORGET what the Goodreads computer does with this record, I intend this to be the: Iliad by Homer, translated by Stanley Lombardo
published 1997 by Hackett Publishing Company
binding Paperback
isbn 0872203522 (isbn13: 9780872203525)
pages 516
Those critics who consider Lombardo's translation anti-Classical (or even "low-brow" and "simplistic") would do well to read Lombardo's own explanation:
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[Taken from an interview in 2002 between Mr. Lombardo and Michael Leddy:]
Leddy: Your Iliad and Odyssey have met with great praise from classicists. But they're also `controversial' -- a characterization that seems to come only from Greekless readers. What expectations are such readers bringing to Homer?
Lombardo: That because it's a classical work, it should sound like Elizabethan English, or at least have some element of archaic diction -- I think those are the expectations. I suspect that these expectations come, ulti...more
published 1997 by Hackett Publishing Company
binding Paperback
isbn 0872203522 (isbn13: 9780872203525)
pages 516
Those critics who consider Lombardo's translation anti-Classical (or even "low-brow" and "simplistic") would do well to read Lombardo's own explanation:
------
[Taken from an interview in 2002 between Mr. Lombardo and Michael Leddy:]
Leddy: Your Iliad and Odyssey have met with great praise from classicists. But they're also `controversial' -- a characterization that seems to come only from Greekless readers. What expectations are such readers bringing to Homer?
Lombardo: That because it's a classical work, it should sound like Elizabethan English, or at least have some element of archaic diction -- I think those are the expectations. I suspect that these expectations come, ulti...more
if ginnie says this is the best version you can take that to the damned bank! i have learned not to read these multiple translation books without checking with her list first. ginnie you kick ass!
The check's in the mail - AND I'm sending you my copy of The Arabian Nights that I prefer to Sir Richard's Victorianisms.
I actually saw Lombardo perform excerpts from his Iliad as an undergrad, and you better believe it was "an immediate, direct, vital experience." He meant for his translations to roll off the tongue naturally enough for a smooth performance but still be beautiful, memorable poetry. All of this makes sense if you see him reciting—from memory—line after line of simple, gorgeous epic. I challenge anyone to try that with some of the more stilted translations out there.
Ginnie, You can manually enter the copy you like then switch your review to that one, and it can be combined with all the other editions.I just did that and added the book to my Goodreads shelves when I saw Abigail's and your notes/ratings.
This is yet another book that I probably read when I was too young to appreciate fully and I'm thinking I should read some other translations as well.
