Odyssey, Emily Wilson

I think I've read the Odyssey a bunch of times -- all in English translation, of course, I never got past one quarter of Ancient Greek. I think I read something as a kid, and know that I read the Fitzgerald translation twice since 2004. And now Wilson's.

I don't have much that's deep to say about it. I liked it. I was surprised at some things I didn't remember: all the ghosts of women who bore children to the gods, when Odysseus was in Hades, which seemed kind of random; how abruptly the story ends. Wilson's foreword has interest; she talks about being explicit that the slaves are slaves, and the length:

"My version is the same length as the original, with exactly the same number of lines. I chose to write within this difficult constraint because any translation without such limitations will tend to be longer than the original, and I wanted a narrative pace that could match its stride to Homer’s nimble gallop."

and her use of simple language:

"Homer’s language is markedly rhythmical, but it is not difficult or ostentatious. The Odyssey relies on coordinated, not subordinated syntax (“and then this, and then this, and then this,” rather than “although this, because of that, when this, which was this, on account of that”). I have frequently aimed for a certain level of simplicity, often using fairly ordinary, straightforward, and readable English. In using language that is largely simple, my goal is not to make Homer sound “primitive,” but to mark the fact that stylistic pomposity is entirely un-Homeric."

I also noted that the high body count of suitors in part due to divine interference; some of them had some regrets or scruples, but Athena decided all should die.

miscellany

Speaking of old appliances: while my gas stove has sensible electric ignition, the gas oven apparently has to be lit with a lighter. Not even conveniently, you have to lift a metal bottom to get at the gas. Unclear if the ignition broke beyond repair or if this is by design. I am way less enthused about trying to use it now. (No baked potatoes?) Also, the dial for the oven gas was broken, though will be replaced... I'm just glad it got stripped in a gas-off position.

In addition to the Odyssey, I finished reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It's still fun, apart from the Christ Sledgehammer at the end. I noticed that Lewis gives Eustace something he's good at, botany -- though I don't think that ever contributed to the plot or solving a problem.

I remember as a kid reading about prisoners being fed bread and water, the ultimate in minimalist diet. Bread for food, water for drink, eh? It occurs to me that there's a good chance they also needed the water to make the bread edible: traditional bread goes stale quickly and I doubt prisoners were getting the fresh stuff... hell, you'd be happy if it were just stale and not moldy or wormy. This thought brought to you by my soaking a solid baguette to make it edible again.

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I also finally finished reading Unearthly Powers, by Alan Strathern, a book my friend Amy had turned me onto. I was really slow, she not only finished before me but could have finished re-reading it before I did. To be short, it's about the differences between transcendent (otherworldly) and immanent (this-worldly) religions, and how a given faith may shift between those over time.

Immanentism – a form of religiosity oriented towards the presence of
supernatural forces and agents in the world around us, which are
attributed with the power to help or thwart human aspirations.

Transcendentalism
– a form of religiosity oriented towards the transcendence of mundane
existence and the imperative of salvation or liberation from the human
condition.

All religions have immanentism; some newer ones have transcendentalism as well.

As Amy put it, the book is also trying to explain why "world religions" went through "folk religions" like a hot knife through butter. I don't feel like trying to give a fair summary, but in addition to my old idea that just being a missionary religion gives you an advantage -- you keep trying, they don't, eventually you succeed -- Strathern talks about other differences: immanentist religions tend to be open and empirical in a sense, they're not trying to resist missionary activity, in fact priests and sacred kings may adopt or co-opt the new religion for various religions; OTOH once emplaced, transcendentalist philosophy tends to close the door behind it -- now drought or famine or failure in war aren't a sign of weak gods but a punishment or a test or a reminder to focus on salvation.