"English Translators of Homer": A Review

2 pointsposted 21 hours ago
by johngossman

2 Comments

A_D_E_P_T

21 hours ago

Logue's War Music is easily the finest poetic work of the late 20th century, but it's not a full translation -- it only covers a few books, a fraction of the total Iliad -- and I think that it's better understood as a supplement to Homer. It works as a thing in itself, but it works 100x better if you're already familiar with the Iliad and are ready for a fresh perspective on a few select scenes.

Finishing the job would be a tremendous undertaking, on par with Ezra Pound's Cantos. It should eventually be attempted by somebody, though.

johngossman

20 hours ago

Totally agree. I re-read it yesterday. The latest edition has Books 1-9 and 16-19, plus some notes and scraps from the remainder. Albeit his versions of those books are mostly shorter than the original, it's more complete than I remember.