Starting with the Greeks: How important is it that I read the Robert Fagles translation as opposed to the free Edward...

Free version for kindle on Amazon.

fitzgerald >lawrence>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>fagles

sorry, didn't mean 2 be so mean. If you're going to pay for a translation I'd highly recommend Fitzgerald. I don't like fagles and haven't heard of that Earl

He was an earl, not a duke

Scratch that, Lattimore is at least as good a translation and the e-book is much cheaper

It's like you've never heard of Project Gutenberg or something

thanks m'duke

I don't know Greek, but people who do usually describe Homer's verse as lean, muscular, musical, and so on. To my mind, Fagles fits such descriptions much better than Lattimore. Lattimore's verse feels academic, like it was composed indoors on a writing table. Fagles's stuff actually seems raw and with qualities of oral poetry, but also elegant.

While we are at it, which the best translation of The Aeneid? I have the WF Jackson Knight translation from Penguin. pls no bully.

Read whatever translation you enjoy, it's as simple as that. Fagles was a page turner for me, so it was better for me because I actually enjoyed it. Maybe you'll hate it. Just go to a book store or library and have a look at the different ones, and see which you like the most.

I have Penguins too. Then like a week ago I saw some rager denouncing Penguin wholesale. So idk if I fugged up

Read all of them you fucking plebs.

Fitzgerald is probably better than Fagles.

I just bought this book of 15 classic Greek plays. Should I read the Odyssey and Iliad before these plays or after?

There's nothing wrong with penguin as a whole. They occasionally use bad translations, but so does every other publisher of classics.

Lombardo - vouch

If you want to memorize particular lines or sections to belt out at parties, though, get them from Alexander Pope's version

did u know my town is so uncultured we had 4 bookstores and they're all closed now hahahaha I miss walking in a picking up a random book to enjoy I hate my life

>that cover

But why

Lattimore's aim was to represent as accurately as he could the sense of Homer (including trying to replicate the repeated, formulaic aspects, which many modern versions do not) in a line that gave some idea in English of the ancient dactylic hexameter. Fagles (like quite a few others) tried to translate Homer into English poetry - Chapman, Pope, Fitzgerald, Mandelbaum, Rees, etc. Different readers (with and without the language) have different preferences. There really is no one way to represent Homeric poetry in English; and each translator (including those into prose) will provide something different.

Reading Iliad currently and I'm wondering: who are the 'bad' guys in the story?

...

The gods.

fagles is a great introduction to homer. it is not necessary for someone who isn't a classicist to read it in the original greek, though it is a noble project i guess. keep in mind all translations are inherently flawed. to try and make a perfect translation is some don quixote, futile, hubristic shit.

if you ask me? sample the translations from pope to fagles then read the fagles slowly. read out loud if you can. then read a bunch of secondary lit. finally read the lattimore.

after this you'll realistically be the most informed in your circle (triangle) of three friends that would even give half a fuck about this sort of thing.

i really enjoyed the fitzgerald translation. fagles did one as well though i haven't read it.

Derby is a bit odd, though not bad at all. He's prone to inventing his own contractions to maintain the flow rather than changing the phrasing, which has mixed success. His word choice is excellent, he always manages to pack a punch with elegant and emotionally charged vocabulary. Still not as good as Lattimore, but probably the next best thing if Lattimore's approach is to your liking.

t. My uni library has a first edition Derby so I decided to give the first few books a read

The Trojans.