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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.
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.