The first version of The Odyssey I read was a child's version who I was a child. The thing I remembered the most was the boar hunt because that;s when Odysseus was closest to the age I was then.
I read an adult version decades ago. I'm due for another go. Do you recommend the Lattimore translation?
Yes -- it's fairly modern (in that one does not have to look up archaisms, though I did need to look up one term for a type of lamp), Lattimore having died in 1984.
I cannot evaluate how true it hews to authenticity (as I don't read Greek), but his translations are generally held as high quality, is my understanding.
I found it easy to understand the action - the only complication is the original complexity of the story, which gets quite complex at times (which is why I think it had to have somebody writing down notes, at the very least. It keeps jumping backward and forward in time, it's difficult to keep track sometimes.)
I had forgotten some bits from before, so it does help to write who's who of the side characters, specifically, who is loyal to Odysseus and who is not. Because (not much of a spoiler) those not loyal are going to end up dead.
Oh, that's the other reason the Odyssey is so satisfying: everybody gets what's coming to them.
The first version of The Odyssey I read was a child's version who I was a child. The thing I remembered the most was the boar hunt because that;s when Odysseus was closest to the age I was then.
I read an adult version decades ago. I'm due for another go. Do you recommend the Lattimore translation?
Yes -- it's fairly modern (in that one does not have to look up archaisms, though I did need to look up one term for a type of lamp), Lattimore having died in 1984.
I cannot evaluate how true it hews to authenticity (as I don't read Greek), but his translations are generally held as high quality, is my understanding.
I found it easy to understand the action - the only complication is the original complexity of the story, which gets quite complex at times (which is why I think it had to have somebody writing down notes, at the very least. It keeps jumping backward and forward in time, it's difficult to keep track sometimes.)
I had forgotten some bits from before, so it does help to write who's who of the side characters, specifically, who is loyal to Odysseus and who is not. Because (not much of a spoiler) those not loyal are going to end up dead.
Oh, that's the other reason the Odyssey is so satisfying: everybody gets what's coming to them.
Thanks Mary Pat!