… of life, of literature … & MORE
The god’s have favored me, and Emily Wilson’s new translation of Homer’s The Iliad has arrived promptly from across the wide Atlantic seas. And glorious it is indeed!
Too promptly I could say because my plan of action has not yet been settled upon. But a menu heading is a start! See My Iliad Reading at the top of the page
By the way, I have shifted the completed My Odyssey Reading; now to be found under Classical Diversions in the main menu.
An update on Emily Wilson’s translation of the Iliad is always welcome news, and especially given that I have been reading through it again (well sort of!) in recent weeks and it still remains a mystery – which is okay only up to a point.
The above tweet relates to Book 10, and I do hope she is not working absolutely chronologically; should she be, there is an awful long way to go! Ever the optimist, this YouTube video clip is of a segment from Book 18 (recited by Wilson in Greek and her work in progress English translation) where Thetis and the nereids are singing their lament, suggests otherwise. Actually, I would be really interested in knowing a little about her work practice and methods.
Next week sees the publication of The Women of Troy, Pat Barker’s sequel to her critically and popularly well-received retelling of Homer’s Iliad, The Silence of the Girls; told with a woman’s gaze and one firmly focused on Briseis. (Reviewed in 2018 here in The Guardian by Emily Wilson.)
Barker has whetted the appetite for a timely read in this short piece she has written for The Guardian; she returns to her motivations in writing the first book, and it seems a classic ‘what came next’ is to be expected of her follow-up.
More generally, it was interesting to read Barker’s comments relating to the richness of opportunities at an author’s disposal to explore mythological characters, as opposed to the constraints imposed on fictions with historical figures and situations in their midst; burdened as they are with facts and evidence. It is any wonder, then, that the mythical narratives are returned to again and again by new generations of artists and writers seeking creative freedom; re-worked and re-imagined, made fit for contemporary reception.
Here’s to a girls night out with Briseis and friends (again) – grown up and grown old – or not – our fates shared through the ages (of man!).