Homer's Iliad: Some Translations of this Great Masterpiece

     Like many other lovers of the Great Books, I yield to the truth that Homer's epics are the magnificent fountain that gave birth to western imagination. Having tasted deeply from the fountains that brought forth later literary waters, it is always refreshing to return to the beginning.
    There are a number of fine translations of Homer's Iliad that are accessible and enjoyable. Anthony Verity's Iliad is lyrical without being poetic, and he does not even pretend to sustain the meter of the original (xxix). The mark by which all other translations have been compared is Richmond Lattimore's Iliad.  In truth, when read aloud, closely imitating the demanding dactylic hexameter and providing the "speed and rhythm analogous" of the original (67), it sings like the Muse. The noble power, force, and flow of Lattimore's translation crushes most others.  
     To be fair, most of the basic introductory material can be found in most introductions and is usually best read after one has read the work. Martin offers some helpful treatment of pace and scope of the literary world (43, 44), character speech (45), the art of the simile (47), and type scenes (49). Graziosi provides one insightful comment about the Muses (xv).  Aside from what was just noted, the respective introductions written by Barbara Grazioso and Richard Martin (who also wrote the introduction for Stanley Lombardo's translation) add little to a reader's experience of the work.      
     I will confess that I tend to read poetry out loud to get the full enjoyment of the vocal and aural connection. I will also confess that I have used, and partly appreciate, what Lombardo does in his more paraphrastic translation. One finds when teaching such grand works to the modern mind, one goes to strange measures to get students to pay attention.
     Beyond a fine translation of the Iliad, I would encourage all those who love reading accessible scholarship to have Eva Brann's Homeric Moments: Clues to Delight in Reading the Odyssey and the Iliad.  While more attention is dedicated to careful reading of the Odyssey, Brann so exemplifies what careful reading looks like that she is a superlative guide.

     Now, for the really serious reader who wants to take that major step toward reading Homer in the original, a great place to begin is Homeric Greek: A Book for Beginners by Clyde Pharr, A Lexicon of Homeric Dialectic by Richard John Cunliffe, and A Homeric Dictionary by Georg Autenrieth.

Translations mentined (and a few not) in this blog that are good:
Richmond Lattimore
Robert Fagles 
Stanley Lombardo
Stephen Mitchell

NEXT BLOG: A Wordle on Why Read?

Virginia Woolf's On How to Read a Book: Great Help and A Few Surprises

     What do you get when a first rate novelist helps us understand how to read a book, that is any book? You get a fine essay that offers numerous helpful hints. In this important, but short essay, Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) serves as a most helpful guide. While many would tout her experience as a novelist, it is also clear she was a keen and avid reader. 
     There are several delightful tips she offers, and a few surprises. Being the passionate persona and author she was, it does not catch us off guard that Woolf affirms "we learn by emotions." Later, when writing of poetry she states, that "the intensity of poetry covers an immense range of emotion." We should not see in Woolf a mere romantic when it comes to literature. 
     Early in the essay, Woolf says, that a reader ought not to make judgments, but in another part of the essay we are encouraged to make judgments. This is not a contradiction as we learn that Woolf is describing our relationship to a reading. At first, we need to suspend certain judgments (remember you can't always judge a book by its cover) and she describes it as a movement from being "friend to being judge." 
     Another surprise is that Woolf tells us, that "the only advice, indeed, that one person could give another about reading is to take no advice, to follow your own instincts, to use your own reason, to come to your own conclusions." This is a case where she does not follow through, as she does give some advice, and it is helpful. It may be that she is arguing that one person cannot dictate the literary tastes of another, but she does advise that "we can train our taste." It is clear from this essay that Woolf is nudging us to elevate those taste to the finer works of literature, philosophy, biography, and history. 
     As Woolf offers some specifics on being a good reader, she notes that "to read a novel is a difficult and complex art." Clearly she is talking about the sort of reading, reading in a rich and meaningful manner that is demanding, but rewarding. The kind of reading she is describing is not mere surface reading of shallow books. This kind of reading implies certain guiding principles. We need to have certain expectations.

     Showing that she is assisting the reader to become more discriminating and mindful, Woolf says, "thus, with our taste to guide us, we shall venture beyond the particular book in search of qualities that group books together; we shall give them names and thus frame a rule that brings order into our perceptions...let us compare each book with the greatest of its kind."
     In my favorite part of the essay, Woolf powerfully describes the soul of the avid reader, the internal disposition of the reader who is affected by all types of books, "when it has fed greedily and lavishly upon books of all sorts–poetry, fiction, history, biography–and has stopped reading and looked for long spaces upon the variety, the incongruity of the living world, we shall find that it is changing a little; it is not so greedy, it is more reflective."
     One of the simplest suggestions for more effective reading, and yet, one that is often forgotten is (regardless of the reading) the practice of comparing each part of the reading with the reading as a whole. It is very similar to building a puzzle and seeing how each piece fits into the adjoining pieces and how each particular piece is an essential part of the whole. 
     Lest anyone think that Woolf was a bookworm and stayed shut-up in libraries reading all the time, we receive a grand insight from her about the relationship between books and life, life and books. "Is there not an open window on the right hand of the bookcase? How delightful to stop reading and look out! How stimulating the scene is, in its unconsciousness, its a relevance, its perpetual movement–the colts galloping around the field, the woman filling her pail at the well, the donkey throwing back his head and emitting his long acrid, moan. The greater part of any library is nothing but the record of such fleeting moments in the lives of men, women, and donkeys."
     Among the many delightful insights, Woolf states books, "are only able to help us if we come to them laden with questions and suggestions one honestly in the course of our own reading." No doubt that this is part of what separates bad readers from good readers and great ones from good ones. The best books that require some effort and offer much do indeed call for robust reading and a helpful guide.

NEXT BLOG: Great Translations of Homer's Iliad

A Reading Bucket List

    It seems that the phrase "bucket list" is hanging around. I will hear folks of all ages mention adding something to the bucket list. Reading Stringfellow Barr's Voices That Endured: The Great Books and the Active Life, it dawned on me that people should have a "Reading Bucket List." Everyone should make a list of those very important books that they really want to read before they die. The wonderful thing about a list like that is that people do not have to make elaborate plans or dip deep into the savings account to see this list unfold.
     Barr insightfully divides his reading list book into three categories: (1) Books that picture humans working, choosing, and acting, such as poems and novels. (2) Books that seek to know the nature of things such as mathematical and scientific works, (3) Books that deal with what humans ought to do, such as works of ethics, politics, and economics. These three categories show how very practical and relevant are these great books.
     Stringfellow Barr is the genius behind St. John's College where everyone studies primarily the great books for four years. The reality is that only a handful of people will ever have the opportunity to study the great books in a college or university setting. That is just fine. Mortimer Adler has spoken about "the poor man's Harvard education." It is a fact that if you set out to read ten, twenty, or one hundred of the most important books ever written, you would learn more than many college graduates learn. If you are a college student, do not let college get in the way of an excellent education. Make your bucket list now and start reading, learning, growing and get the best sort of education.
     Why would anyone ever set out to read the Great Books? Stringfellow Barr says, that when it gets right down to it that the things that really pass through our sleepless minds and haunt our dreams are the thoughts about how we have wronged friends. We also are seeking courage to face the next hurdle in life. We humans constantly grapple with loss, fears, frustration, guilt, shame, happiness, joy, resentment, despair, and hope. These are the themes of the great books and partly what makes them great. An active life is a reading life. A life that looks to the works that have shaped many who have come before us and will come after us.
     I love reading and I really love reading with others. Talking about books, ideas, and the sheer delights of reading is one of the finest of human pleasures. Whether I am conversing with students in a class, my wife at breakfast, or people online with Google Helpouts, it is a joy to talk about books and the ways they enrich our lives.
     In these blogs, I will explore the great books of literature, philosophy, history, science, mathematics, and social science. I am not alone. I have guides like Stringfellow Barr, Mortimer Adler, Robert Hutchins, Alan Jacobs, Os Guinness, Virginia Woolf, Matthew Arnold, Sainte-Beuve, Percy Shelley, Samuel Johnson, T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis, and many others. In addition to reading and offering thoughts and questions, I will also give lots and lots of tips on wisely reading all sorts of things. I invite you to join me in this making of a bucket reading list and participate in the active life of reading the great books.

NEXT BLOG: Virginia Woolf's How Should One Read a Book?