Podríamos darlo por leído.

Quizás.

Hay que admitir que la última parte la leí en diagonal porque estaba agotada. No era el momento para ponerme con ella. He pasado un mes difícil y lo menos que me apetecía era ponerme con una lectura de este talante.

En ningún momento me enganchó, aunque tiene algo especial. Las historias en sí me parecieron fascinantes, pero no logré conectar en ningún momento por cómo estaban escritas. Se me hizo largo, monótono y repetitivo.

Eso sí, me he quedado con unas ganas enormes de leer 'Circe' y 'The Penelopiad'. Así que no ha caído todo en saco roto :).

Perhaps we could take it for granted. Maybe. We have to admit that I read the last part diagonally because I was exhausted. It wasn't the right time to deal with it. I have had a difficult month and the last thing I felt like was getting into a reading of this nature.

It never hooked me at any point, although it has something special. The stories themselves seemed fascinating to me, but I couldn't connect at any time because of how they were written. It seemed long, monotonous, and repetitive to me.

However, I have been left with a huge desire to read 'Circe' and 'The Penelopiad'. So not everything has been in vain :).

Group read: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

This group read is centered around Homer's "The Odyssey" as translated by Emily Wilson. It offers an exciting opportunity for readers to come together and explore this classic work.

The journey through the epic poem promises to be a captivating one. With Wilson's translation, readers can expect a fresh perspective on the adventures of Odysseus.

The group read provides a platform for discussions, where members can share their thoughts, interpretations, and insights. It allows for a deeper understanding of the themes, characters, and the overall narrative.

Joining this group read not only enriches one's literary experience but also creates a sense of community among like-minded readers. It is a chance to engage with others who have a passion for literature and a desire to explore the works of Homer.

So, if you're interested in delving into the world of "The Odyssey" and sharing your thoughts with others, this group read is definitely worth checking out.

Click on the provided link to join the group and embark on this literary adventure.

I first read The Odyssey during my freshman year of high school. It might have been the very first assigned reading that year. I remember being excited about it and initially liking the story. However, getting through it was an extremely difficult task for me because the translation I was reading was so dense. Looking back now, and having read this particular translation, I realize that I didn't actually like it as much as I thought I did back then. In fact, I have some rather definite opinions about the Greeks being huge jerks.

Mostly, I think they are huge jerks! I do not recall Odysseus and his crew being such mindless killers. Everywhere they go, they slaughter people, often for no valid reason. They simply raid a village (engaging in pillaging, raping, etc.) on their way home, just because they have the power to do so. And the narrative seems to want us to believe that this is normal and acceptable behavior. That really shocked me.

The best aspect of this particular edition is that Wilson has written it in such an accessible way. There is an incredibly interesting foreword and a section with translator's notes. In these, she discusses the history and context of the poem, which you really shouldn't skip. She also explains why she chose to translate it in such accessible language, while most translators give it an intentionally elevated style to imitate the supposedly ancient feel. Wilson correctly points out that this is nonsense because the poem comes directly from the oral tradition, where it had to be accessible, repetitive, and usually in the plain language of the day. One of the aims of her translation was to closely mimic the style and recreate the experience for modern readers without any unnecessary artificial barriers.

I also didn't remember that the parts that most people associate with The Odyssey (such as Circe, the Cyclops, Scylla and Charybdis) make up only about 25% of the book. Mostly, it is Odysseus telling his story in someone else's halls, then going home halfway through and pretending to be a dirty beggar, listening to other people's stories, before mercilessly murdering all of his wife's suitors.

I probably wouldn't have picked up this book without ElCicco's lovely review. She does a much better job of discussing it than I do, so I recommend clicking and reading if you want a more comprehensive understanding.

I would rate the actual poem three stars. The fourth star is entirely for this edition, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

\\n  \\"I'm not normally a praying man, but if you're up there, please save me, Superman!\\"\\n
—Homer
(Simpson)

Inspired by James Joyce, I am using Homer's heroic story as the basis for a novel I am currently working on. However, as a mere mortal, I wonder how I can do justice to the most famous epic poem ever written. An encounter with a work of this magnitude should be shared, not just reviewed. Homer is the great-granddaddy of modern literature, and this colossal work is as immortal as the gods within it.
Imagine what this tale must have been like back in the 8th century BC when it was sung rather than read. The first listeners must have been dancing about in their togas with excitement. Sadly, I didn't read it in ancient Greek as Homer intended. Instead, I had a copy transcribed to my Kindle, translated by the genius Alexander Pope.
The story follows Odysseus, also known as Ulysses in Latin, as he embarks on a perilous journey home to Ithaca after ten years fighting in the Trojan War. His adventure is filled with setbacks as he battles treacherous seas, wrathful gods, enchanting sirens, and a Cyclops. Poseidon even weighs in with some nautical muscle and shipwrecks his boat!
The journey home takes a gruelling ten years, and in the meantime, his wife Penelope has given up hope and is being courted by one hundred suitors. This is not a page-turner, and some background knowledge is required to appreciate the finer points. However, Pope has done an amazing job of remaining true to the timbre of Homer's lyrical story, and his rhyming couplets are beautiful:

\\"But when the star of eve with golden light
Adorn'd the matron brow of night.\\"

Homer has inspired countless authors throughout the centuries, and I can't award this work anything less than five heroic stars.

The cultural value of this work cannot be overestimated, and one should read Homer before starting to read any other books. I was charmed by the poetics and magnificent translation accomplished by Vasily Zhukovsky.

The peculiarity of ancient Greek myths is that their heroes are mortals, although gods are also involved. The narration is chronologically disrupted, and the action unfolds in two planes - about the feats of Odysseus and about the confrontation between Penelope and Telemachus with the annoying suitors.

The personality of Odysseus is revealed in his actions. He is not an ideal hero. He is capable of making mistakes, and his mistakes, for example, the desire to taunt the Cyclops Polyphemus, cost the lives of his comrades and lengthen the period of his wanderings. However, he is rather selfish and does not grieve for a long time about his losses. Odysseus is cruel, as we are convinced in the scene of the execution of the faithless servants. But he makes his long way home, his way to himself.

I really enjoyed this new translation very much.

It presented the original text in a fresh and engaging way. The translator seemed to have a deep understanding of both the source and target languages, which allowed for a seamless transfer of meaning.

The language used in the translation was vivid and precise, making it easy for me to follow the story and connect with the characters.

I also appreciated the translator's attention to detail, as they managed to capture the nuances and subtleties of the original work.

This new translation has definitely enhanced my reading experience and I would highly recommend it to others.

Overall, I give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I was delighted when I saw that Karpos had once again printed the forgotten 19th-century prose translation of "The Odyssey" by Panajot Papakostopoulos. I knew such a translation existed, but it was difficult to obtain it because, after Đurić sang the epic in hexameters, the need for a prose translation disappeared. "The Odyssey" rewritten in the Serbian prose of the 19th century sounds beautiful. Somewhere between the rhythmic prose with the cancelled imperfect of Daničić's translation of the "Old Testament" and the soaring, vivid translations of Milovan and Stanka Glišić from Russian and French. Panajat's translation is surely not the most contentually precise, and formally it is far from what the epic is. And yet, "The Odyssey" in the form of a "novel" is no less perfect than in the form of verse. Especially for me, for whom "The Odyssey" would be a favorite book if "The Iliad" did not exist.

In the cultural consciousness, there are two "Odysseys": one is about Odysseus' adventures, the other is about home or, more precisely, about homes. The first is more present in the culture, but the epic sings more of the second. And I don't mean just that the epic's focus is on Odysseus' return to the home that his suitors are ruining, but also that, for example, the descriptions of feasts and customs in the courts of Nestor and Menelaus in the first songs are given more space than the description of the encounter with the sirens or Scylla and Charybdis. When I was younger, the four retrospective adventure chapters were more interesting to me, but now the descriptions of life in the houses of Nestor, Menelaus, Alkinoos, and on Ithaca appeal to me more. Not only because Homer's poetry reaches its heights in those places, but also because the presented world is still sympathetically domestic – people eat and drink well, they feel the breadth of the community, and the nobility is still so familiar with the daily activities of the household that the differences between the classes are somewhat forgotten. Therefore, in Homer, both queens and goddesses are always weaving and spinning something, and the rulers are skilled in both livestock and agricultural affairs. This domestic idyll especially gains in value because it is fragile, and ultimately, the threatened home is at the center of the epic. The idyll easily disappears, oppressed and overshadowed by the world of the Olympic gods, who are far more terrifying than these lower deities of the monsters scattered across the islands - with the monsters at least you know what you're dealing with, while the Olympians mostly don't even know themselves what they want, but they expect people to know their desires.

I have finally delved into the pages of The Odyssey. Why now? Well, I felt it was the opportune moment, as I was gearing up to take on some more substantial and perhaps more modern (wink wink) related works. There isn't an abundance that I can contribute to the existing knowledge and reviews of this epic. After all, even Socrates read (or watched?) this, so I'm just doing my part. Instead, let me share with you some of the thoughts that crossed my mind as I was engrossed in the book, presented in a rather random and unstructured manner (This was the Robert Fagles translation; and I suppose spoilers? If you care. It probably won't matter too much, but just in case):

- Homer (is it a person? or a myth?) truly emphasizes the WINE. DARK. SEA. It's as if these elements are central to the story's fabric.

- Young Dawn with her rose-red fingers will unfailingly rise, time and time again. It's a beautiful and recurring image that gives a sense of hope and renewal.

- Athena is such an amusing character. Without getting too deep into mythology, I simply wonder: what are her motivations? If she loves Odysseus so dearly… why not just transport him home like she does for others? And please, stop the constant shape-shifting!

- Oh, someone farted? It's time to pour out the wine. Libations! This strange and somewhat comical custom adds a touch of authenticity to the ancient setting.

- Polyphemus the Cyclops falls victim to (quite literally) the oldest trick in the book. "What is your name Odysseus?" "My name is 'Nobody'." And then, "Nobody has blinded me." It's a classic moment of cunning and deception.

- It's also rather remarkable that the only proof people need for identification is Odysseus' scar. Oh, some random guy shows up with the same scar as Odysseus? Well, he must be Odysseus! It's a simple yet effective plot device.

- Finally, Odysseus is the most suspicious character. I admired his caution upon his return, as he didn't want to meet the same fate as Agamemnon. But then, at the very end, when he is about to meet his grief-stricken and nearly-dead father, he STILL plays a trick on him! Dude! Can't you just let it go for one second? Seriously.

In conclusion, I absolutely loved The Odyssey. It's a captivating and timeless piece of literature that continues to engage and inspire readers to this day.

The first line in Emily Wilson’s new translation of the Odyssey, the first by a woman scholar, is “Tell me about a complicated man.”

In an article by Wyatt Mason in the NYT late last year, Wilson tells us, “I could’ve said, ‘Tell me about a straying husband.’ And that’s a viable translation. That’s one of the things [the original language] says…[But] I want to be super responsible about my relationship to the Greek text. I want to be saying, after multiple different revisions: This is the best I can get toward the truth.”

Oh, the mind reels. This new translation by Emily Wilson reads swiftly, smoothly, and feels contemporary. It will surprise you and send you to compare certain passages with earlier translations. In her Introduction, Wilson raises the issue of translation herself: How is it possible to have so many different translations, all of which could be considered “correct”?

Wilson reminds us what a ripping good yarn this story is and removes any barriers to understanding. We can come to it with our current sensibility and find in it all kinds of foretelling and parallels with life today. Perhaps we even see the genesis of our own core morality, a morality that feels inexplicably learned. Maybe the passed-down sense of right and wrong, of fairness and justice we read of here was learned through these early stories and lessons from the gods. Or are we interpreting the story to fit our sensibility?

These delicious questions operate in deep consciousness while we pleasure in learning more about that liar Odysseus, described again and again as wily, scheming, cunning, “his lies were like truth.” He learned how to bend the truth at his grandfather’s knee, and the gods exploited that talent when they helped him out. The skill served him well, allowing him to confuse and evade captors throughout his ordeal, as well as keep his wife and father in the dark about his identity upon his return until he could reveal the truth at a time of maximum impact.

There does inevitably come a time when people react cautiously to what is told them, even to the evidence their own eyes. The gods can cloud one’s understanding, it is well known, and truth is suspected in every encounter. These words Penelope speaks: “Please forgive me, do not keep / bearing a grudge because when I first saw you, / I would not welcome you immediately. / I felt a constant dread that some bad man / would fool me with his lies. There are so many / dishonest, clever men...”

Particularly easy to relate to today are descriptions of Penelope’s ungrateful suitors like Ctesippius, who “encouraged by extraordinary wealth, had come to court Odysseus’ wife.” Also speaking insight for us today are the phrases “Weapons themselves can tempt a man to fight” and “Arms themselves can prompt a man to use them.”

There is a conflicted view of women in this story: “Sex sways all women’s minds, even the best of them,” though Penelope is a paragon of virtue, managing to avoid temptation through her own duplicitousness. She hardly seems a victim at all in this reading, merely an unwilling captor. She is strong, smart, loyal, generous, and brave, all the qualities any man would want for his wife.

We understand the slave girls that Odysseus felt he had to “test” for loyalty were at the disposal of the ungrateful suitors who, after they ate and drank at Penelope's expense, often met the house girls after hours. Some of the girls appeared to go willingly, laughing and teasing as they went, and were outspoken about their support of the men they’d taken up with. Others, we get the impression from the text, felt they had no choice.

Race is not mentioned but once in this book, very matter-of-factly, though the darker man is a servant to the lighter one: “…[Odysseus] had a valet with him, / I do remember, named Eurybates, / a man a little older than himself, / who had black skin, round shoulders, woolly hair, / and was [Odysseus's] favorite our of all his crew / because his mind matched his.”

Odysseus’s tribulations are terrible, but appear to be brought on by his own stubborn and petulant nature, like his taunting of the blinded Cyclops from his own escaping ship. Cyclops was Poseidon’s son so Odysseus's behavior was especially unwise, particularly since his own men were yelling at him to stop. Later, that betrayal of the men’s best interests for his own childish purpose will come back to haunt Odysseus when the men suspect him of thinking only of himself--greediness--and unleash terrible winds by accident, blowing them tragically off course in rugged seas.

We watch, fascinated, as the gods seriously mess Odysseus about, and then come to his aid. We really get the sense of the gods playing, as in Athena’s willingness to give Odysseus strength and arms when fighting the suitors in his house, but being unwilling to actually step in to help with the fighting. Instead, she watched from the rafters. It’s hard not to be just a little resentful.

Wilson’s translation reads very fast and very clearly. There always seemed to be some ramp-up time reading Greek myths in the past, but now the adventures appear perfectly accessible. Granted, there are some names you’ll have to figure out, but that’s part of being “constructively lost,” as Pynchon says.

A book-by-book reading of this new translation will begin March 1st on the Goodreads website, hosted by Kris Rabberman, Wilson’s colleague at the University of Pennsylvania. To prepare for the first online discussion later this week, Kris has suggested participants read the Introduction. If interested readers are still not entirely convinced they want this literary experience now, some excerpts have been reprinted in The Paris Review.

Rewriting this article, I would expand on the points made. The Iliad is a classic that I spent over a month reading. It's not that the book is slow-paced; rather, I'm the one who takes my time. In fact, the story is quite fast-paced, especially towards the end. The cunning of Odysseus is truly remarkable. His ability to outwit his enemies and find clever solutions to difficult situations is impressive. Similarly, the journey to maturity of his son Telemachus is also值得 noting. He grows from a young and inexperienced boy into a capable and confident man. I found this book to be rather comic in nature. There are many silly enemies and humorous situations that made me laugh out loud. At the same time, I also sympathize with the characters and their struggles. Each character in this book has a unique story to tell, and I would love to read more about them. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to others.

The Journey Of The West

Homer's Odyssey is indeed the prototypical "journey" in Western literature. It tells the captivating story of Odysseus, the King of Ithaca. Odysseus spent a decade with the Greeks at Troy, where he was a crucial figure and devised the ingenious Trojan Horse strategy that led to Troy's downfall. After Troy's fall, he wandered for another ten years before finally returning to Ithaca. The Odyssey vividly celebrates his trials during this long period and his ultimate vindication upon his homecoming.

The Odyssey differs significantly in tone and content from the Iliad. Simone Weil, a renowned 20th-century French writer, described the Iliad as the work that best explores the use and limitations of force. The Iliad realistically, yet heroically,描绘s battle scenes, death, and the human cost and folly of war. In contrast, the Odyssey is more of a romance. It has moments of grandeur and heroism, but its essence lies in the telling of the story, the journeying, and the adventures of Odysseus along the way.
The tale of the Iliad, centered around Achilles' wrath, covers only a few days of the Trojan War and is recounted in a forward-moving chronology. The main action takes place entirely in Troy and its environs. The Odyssey, on the other hand, is much more diffuse, encompassing the ten-year wanderings of Odysseus. The scene shifts frequently, and the story is told with flashbacks, shifting tenses, and locations. The bulk of the action occurs in Ithaca after Odysseus returns home. The first four books of the Odyssey focus on a smaller-scale journey of Telemachus, Odysseus's son, as he searches for news of his father and tries to avoid death at the hands of the suitors plaguing Ithaca and plundering Odysseus's estate. The middle section of the book details Odysseus's adventures with various mythical characters.
The most striking element of the poem for me was Book 11, which chronicles Odysseus's journey to Hades and teaches him the preciousness and irreplaceability of human life despite all its pain and suffering. Much of the middle section is told as a flashback with Odysseus speaking in his own voice. There is also a great deal in the Odyssey about the nature and function of epic poetry and its performance.
The Odyssey concludes with Odysseus' slaughter of the many suitors of his faithful wife Penelope and his reuniting with his wife, aged father Laertes, and son Telemachus. Odysseus is a wily, much-battered, and cunning hero, but his perseverance and strength make him a hero nonetheless.
The Odyssey is a widely translated work. I found Robert Fagles' translation particularly helpful in getting me into and involved with the poem. The translation is in a modern American free verse idiom, which allows the poem to speak for itself and doesn't draw attention to itself as a translation. For a work like the Odyssey, if the translation moves the reader and draws them into the work, the translator is doing an excellent job. By this standard, Fagles' translation is outstanding.
There is an excellent introduction by Bernard Knox that introduces the reader to the scholarly issues surrounding the composition of the Odyssey and the Iliad and also discusses the major themes of the poem.
The Odyssey and the Iliad are works that should be read and reread at different stages of life. For those who don't read the original Greek (most readers), they should probably be explored in several translations. This is a stirring epic poem that represents the journey of the West. Robin Friedman

Odysseus is truly an infuriating character!

He is so overly self-assured, a habitual liar and cheat. While his wife, Penelope, is expected to remain faithful for a staggering 20 years, he has affairs left and right.

Then, to make matters worse, he brutally murders a whole bunch of people. This includes the poor maids, who he deems not loyal enough, whatever that convoluted reasoning might be.

I'm beginning to seriously question the authenticity of his version of the story. Could he be the world's very first unreliable narrator?

Thankfully, there is a modern take on this tale. I've just discovered Margaret Atwood's "The Penelopiad", which I'm definitely going to read. It will be fascinating to see this classic story re-told from another perspective, perhaps giving us a more nuanced and accurate understanding of the events and the characters involved.