Alright so I’m finally getting into it! Book 1 of the Iliad begins now!!
Anybody have any tips to guide me through this thing? I read the whole foreword and translators notes and have an idea of the story, but I wonder if there are things I should pay attention to as I go. (i realized Lattimore is a bit less clear in terms of story progression / sentence structure than Fitzgerald or pope, so I’m having to underline key names and nouns as I go thru.)
let the bonners just happen
they aren’t unusual
you don’t have to do anything with them
just own them, and let them be
My only advice when reading classic literature is to stop reading fucking forewards and translator’s notes and shit and just read the damn book. That stuff is mind poison.
If I could blood potion that more than once…
I skip forewords not written by the author but I have read too many books where the introduction was a part of the narrative to skip them consistently.
translator’s notes rule tho. I guess I don’t read those to start with, but I check them out at various points through my reading of a book.
[joke about Pale Fire]
Read all prefaces and appendices carefully imo
To be clear, I am all for reading them later, but not before at least getting my feet wet.
so: from a Great Books perspective (i.e., from a perspective of reading to understand the Great Conversation, and allusions and turns of phrase in other works),
which bible translation is the best?
King James Version: well, it’s the OG, most likely to be quoted everywhere, etc. but the archaic spelling/diction is a bit of a bummer… — American KJV: updates the spelling
English Standard Version: heard this was good somewhere
http://www.christianbiblereference.org/faq_kjv.htm
im not a christian of any stripe so i don’t have a theological dog in the fight. this is a nightmare for a person like me!! i promise my next post will be about the adventures of achilles and agamemnon, not translation shenanigans
Again you face a poetry vs. “accuracy” choice. In this case I prefer poetry but that’s because I don’t care much about Christianity. Also, KJV wordings are quoted in many many other works, where more modern translations aren’t so much, so being familiar with/understanding the KJV wordings is useful to interpret those other works.
yeah! i figured it would be best to get the KJV for that reason – allusions in other works, recognizing the most famous verses, etc. I got this sucker based on the KJV. (New Cambridge Paragraph Bible)
THE ILIAD : BOOK 1
hey hey, what’s to say? we’re just kicking off with the boys of legend, the savage lad achilleus and that bad, bad man agamemnon (a.k.a. kid atreides a.k.a. lord of men). agamemnon: he’s mad a lot! man if you’d just given up the girl you stole from chryse, this story would have wrapped up by now. but no, agamemnon thinks with his dick, like all great leaders of men. “if i can’t fuck this lady, i’ll take your lady and fuck her!” such is the cry of atreus’ son, and a fearsome cry it is.
yung achilleus, imbued with the strongest of butthurt, calls his mom to vent. “hey ma! agamemnon cucked me!” the sea lass thetis laments the fact she raised a cuck (also, the fact he will die young, but probably more the cuck part).
other charas: the unwearied athene! brilliant apollo, the plague-bringer! old man nestor! (i picture him as sort of a colonel sanders type, all twirling his mustache and pontificating about the good old days.)
THE ILIAD : BOOK 2
AGAMEMNON: pack it up boys! no invading to be done here, besides, zeus said we can’t win
TROOPS: okay boss
AGAMEMNON: ha! you idiots!! IT WAS A RUSE!!
TROOPS:
NESTOR: for shame! back in my day–
TROOPS:
[later]
HOMER, LISTING THE SOLDIERS AT THE BATTLE: --and Maedhros the Tall, who ruled from the March of Maedhros, based at the hill of Himring, and Maglor the Mighty Singer, who ruled over Maglor’s Gap, and Celegorm the Fair, who ruled over Himlad with Curufin, and Caranthir the Dark, who ruled over Thargelion, and Curufin the Crafty, who ruled over Himlad with–
THE ILIAD : BOOK 3
HEKTOR: 1v1 him bro
MENELAOS: ok
APHRODITE: sike throws smoke bomb, Paris disappears
PARIS: pshh… nothing personnel, kid…
THE ILIAD : BOOK 4
reenactment of THE ILIAD BOOK 4, part 1
reenactment of THE ILIAD BOOK 4, part 2
i’m having a good time!!
Perhaps this, here, is actually the greatest Iliad translation
one thing you should pay close attention to in the Iliad is the temperaments of the principles, and their relationship to violence.
I got a degree in this shit, what you want from me
Did you mean “principals”? I mean I guess I could read it either way but that personification would be really… idiosyncratic.
sb’s principal pedant
well in that case a contribution that suggests you didn’t get that degree in junior high lolololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololollololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololol
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slams a dew
cries himself to sleep
I don’t get it getting a degree while in junior high would be a nice accomplishment did you ever think of that no you didn’t
i had a diet mtn dew the other day