Faithful Rendition
The Odyssey / 0-14-026886-3
I'm not going to lie and say that I pull this (or it's companion, The Illiad) out every other weekend for light reading, but if you're going to have a copy of The Odyssey on hand, this is a good one to add to the library. The translation is good, and is very poetic yet easy enough to read, considering the source material. The verse form has been maintained and reminds the reader that this was originally a verse, and not a prose narrative. The binding is tight and attractive, with thick sturdy pages, and with "ruffled" unfinished edges, giving the book an older feel, and making pages easier to grip and turn. I recommend this version, if you're considering buying The Odyssey for your library.
DON'T buy into the Fagles "hype"!
Although I respect Fagles as a modern translator, I cannot recommend his translations of Homer...I would probably only recommend his translations of Sophocles's 3 Theban Plays.
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey don't sound like Epics anymore under Fagles...they are turned into mild nice sounding children stories! He tones down Homer to the point that I feel that Fagels wants his personality to shine NOT Homer's! I am gravely disappointed by this.
I also find that he not only forces beauty into the text but adds too much of his personal warmth that gets in the way of the texts and creates a vision of Homer's epics that is truly unsound to the original.
Not only that but the font and design of the print is an eye sore, I don't like the choice the publishers and Fagles gave to the works. It doesn't make for easy reading...
Stanley Lombardo's translations are unparalleled in their print layout, design and font...not to say vivid and powerful evocative translation.
I continue to find Richmond Lattimore's facinating translations the most accurate to how the Ancient Greek language sounds to English ears. I would buy Lattimore over Fagles (and Fitzgerald).
And I still think Rieu's famous Prose version from 1946 is hard to beat for it's modernity and readibility.
...Find out for yourself by comparing a few versions but don't be duped into this mysterious "Fagles hype"!
Good, but not the best...
I find the new translation by Ian Johnston to be vastly superior to that of Fagles. It is clear, direct and presented in a more modern English style while still remaining true to the Greek original. It is increasingly being used by high schools and universities and makes a great addition to any library. I highly recomment Mr. Johnston's translations for any lover of Greek (and other) classics.
Fagles finds the translator's "middle ground" amidst controversy
About the Odyssey itself, I can add no greater praise than that which has already been deservedly heaped onto one of humankind's greatest literary creations. This particular version is graced with an excellent introduction and notes by Bernard Knox, and what I consider to be a very good translation by Robert Fagles.
The translation style stirs up controversy, with one highly rated review here going so far as to suggest that Fagles' version is not even worthy of being called a translation. In his enlightening translator's postscript, Fagles argues that being too literal results in "too little English" and that being too literary means "too little Greek". In his attempt to create a modern English version, Fagles seeks a happy medium between the two: whether this results in a middle ground or a no-man's-land is up to the reader to decide.
While others clearly disagree, I find Fagles' style immensely satisfying and readable, with an appropriate mix of ancient nobility and modern accessibility. More so than with the Iliad, I found a number of phrases that were perhaps a bit "too colloquial" for my tastes (e.g. it is a bit jarring to see idiomatic modern phrases like "cease and desist" in a translation of a ~3000 year old text) but for me these were few and far between and did not distract from the overall elegance of his translation. Many who prefer a more literal style take issue with Fagles' liberties regarding the syntactic order of epithets, but I felt that he was very effective in conveying the substance of these epithets while converting their style into a form more palatable to the reader of English, a language which seeks to avoid the kind of formulaic repetition which is a necessary convention in ancient Greek.
Above all, Fagles is very clear and explicit about his choice of style, making it easy for the reader to decide whether this style matches his or her expectations. Any translation is ultimately a retelling, and given the gulf of millennia and culture between Homer's Greece and the modern reader, even reading the original in ancient Greek will not faithfully recreate the experience of Homer's contemporaries hearing this tale for the first time. Therefore, assuming technical accuracy exists (which appears to be the case with all of the well known translations of Homer's works), the choice of which one to read ultimately is one of style. The philosophy of translating is a murky realm, with no definitive conclusions about the merits of staying true to the letter of the original versus the spirit of the original--tradeoffs are inevitable. So in the end, find the version that speaks most clearly to you. For me, that version was Fagles'.
great book
i really enjoyed this translation of homers epic poem. it was very informative and touched on the key points from the original. and i would know because i speak greek and have read the original text!
