Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Translations are a bit like Helen vs #nofilter Penelope: they may be either very beautiful or very faithful, but unless one has been blessed by the gods, that or is exclusive.


Fitzgerald, imho, is neither beautiful nor faithful. We compared some passages side by side between Fitzgerald and Lattimore in my Epic and Scripture class and Fitzgerald was just ugly in his attempts to modernize the language rather than let Homer's word choices stand on their own (pretty much anywhere Lattimore used the more literal "winged words" Fitzgerald chose something clunky and pedestrian trying to interpret the metaphor.

The comparison of first lines at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_translations_of_Homer does a good job of giving some sense of the differences in style between various translations.


I love Fitzgerald's translations! I find Lattimore utterly dull and lacking in poetry; Fitzgerald is readable and fun, in my view.

Each to their own, of course, but I wanted to provide a counterpoint to anyone out there deciding on a translation to read.


or Scylla and Charybdis?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: