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PaperclipPerfector  4hr ago (text post)   113 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 8, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Someone rec me a good TL of the Illiad/Odyssey.

It's been a long time since I've read/studied it and I'm out of date. I at least dimly remember a lot of pushback from some better-read people than I about the Emily Wilson TL of the Odyssey.

I kind of want to read a passable translation again for posterity's sake due to some discussion and dissatisfaction I've noticed with the latest trailer for Nolan's attempt at Homer. Not in prose if possible, ideally the power and scope of the oral poetry should be preserved. Despite the power of the "Sing, O Muse, of the Rage of Achilles" line, many of the recommended or popular TLs I've seen have far shittier renditions of that verse.

I have NEVER seen translation abbreviated as TL, and I was very confused until you mentioned Emily Wilson.

Fagles is the one that comes most commonly recommended as accurate and well done. I enjoyed Wilson's Odyssey, but I see where people didn't like it, I think Wilson is an interesting pairing with the War Nerd Iliad.

My favorite translation though, is Pope's

Achilles’ wrath, to Greece the direful spring
Of woes unnumber’d, heavenly goddess, sing!
That wrath which hurl’d to Pluto’s gloomy reign
The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain;
Whose limbs unburied on the naked shore,
Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore.[41]
Since great Achilles and Atrides strove,
Such was the sovereign doom, and such the will of Jove![42

Seconding Fagles. I found those to be enjoyable and comprehensible without feeling like I was reading Homer for Dummies (which they might be, for all I know, since I haven't read other translations).

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