Depending on a Translator

I recently had a conversation with my sister-in-law, Ulka. She wanted to add some ‘classics’ to her reading. Reading classics can mean different things to different people. In this case, Ulka was talking about some of the big Russian writers and Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.

We talked about translations and publications of books and how different they could be. If you can’t read in the original language, you are at the mercy of the translator.

A big idea that we talked about was that translations could be true to the words or true to the feel, but it is hard to do both. Neither approach is right or wrong, but they lead to different reading experiences. I recently read Once Upon a Wardrobe and Becoming Mrs. Lewis, two books by Patti Callahan that focused on the writing of C.S. Lewis. [Lory and I interviewed Patti in Episode #12. Check it out.] Lewis learned a number of languages and read in them. He read the Iliad in Greek. I can’t. I suspect that most of our followers can’t.

I’m a fan of Russian literature. I’ve read Tolstoy and Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn. For our purposes today though, I’m going to focus on the Iliad and the Odyssey. If you want to read them, and I think you should, what version should you read? For me, a fascinating question. The best answer is probably to read a number of different translations, but what if you are only going to read one?

We could probably get into a never-ending argument about what translation to read. I’m going to go with the Robert Fitzgerald translation. I’m not saying he got it right, but his approach seems to have satisfied a lot of people. I think I own his versions.

If thinking about this interests you, there is a really good New Yorker article that you should read. Englishing the Iliad: Grading Four Rival Translations

Even if you disagree with choosing the Fitzgerald translation, I’ll advocate for reading some translation. The Iliad and the Odyssey are foundational. Our literature owes a debt to Homer. He is worth reading in whatever translation you choose.

Do you disagree? What translation would you advocate for? Let us know at twosides2thestory@yahoo.com