Homer Book

There were Heroes before those who fell at Troy; but they had no Poet, and therefore they are Dead

I enjoyed this book greatly; but as noted by a previous reviewer here on Amazon, the apparatus is woefully inadequate. The introductions to each translator need to be longer and the introduction to the whole volume also should be lengthened. At this point in his career I am certain that our editor, George Steiner, has no interest in doing any of this. Whoever does the next edition of this book will hopefully tackle all this. (On the title page, btw, Aminaday Dykman is listed as Steiner's assistant.)

Also, I wish the book had been structured around important 'set-pieces' of the two great Homeric works. This would have allowed us to see how these different translators treated these pivotal moments. I think one of the problems with this book is that there seems to be no rhyme or reason in choosing the passages that appear here. I believe that the reader would be better served by seeing how the Homeric translators all handle given passages than reading different passages that exemplify the style and strategy of a given translation. Style and strategy could be covered in expanded introductions to each translator.

[Now, off the top of my head, the 'set-pieces' I have in mind would include the following:

Iliad I: The rage of Achilles

The raison d'être of the poem itself!

Iliad III: Helen on the rampart to view the warriors

Helen's terrible beauty, so powerful that it destroyed (that is, it led to the destruction of) a city(!), so stupefying that it could over-awe men wise with age, so magnificent that King Priam himself cannot bring himself to blame Helen for the war. She is a force of nature: yes, beautiful, powerful, terrible, but above all (may all the gods help us), Necessary. Sane men do not hold the Storm accountable; they blame themselves for being unprepared.
Shame on you if you are unprepared when radiant Helen burns your world!

Iliad IX: The embassy to Achilles

The certainty with which people today tend to see Achilles and Odysseus as friends is absurd. Look at what Achilles says to the face of Odysseus after his speech. It isn't until the speech of Ajax that we see Achilles praise one of the speeches. It is Ajax and Achilles who should be paired! Odysseus points toward the classical world to come; Ajax points back to the archaic world that has already begun declining.

Iliad XXI: Achilles to Lycaon

The white hot rage of our hero, and relentless Death, which awaits us all.

Iliad XXIV: Priam goes to Achilles to beg for the corpse of his son

Perhaps the high point of the poem. Achilles finds forgiveness and 'everydayness'. By the gods, even Niobe remembers to eat!

Odyssey VIII: Demodocus sings of the Trojan War

Beautiful. Living Odysseus listens to the recounting of the war that destroyed so many. He is akin to a ghost listening to a (his!) glorious past. ...And he weeps!

Odyssey XI: The ghost of Achilles meets Odysseus:

'I would rather be the slave of an idiot than King of all these miserable dead'. That sentence should shriek! Any translation that does not scream at this point does not understand the text it is translating. If dead Achilles had thought that in life, Troy would not have fallen. Indeed, Achilles would not have been Achilles.
And no one would have remembered him...

Odyssey XIII: Conversation between Odysseus and his Goddess

At times, seemingly (and alarmingly) the banter between bff's!]

The Iliad is a shocking read. It brings forth a world unlike any we know. It is tempting to call it a Tragedy. But there is a confidence in Homer, a trust in the world, that keeps him from ever writing tragedy akin to Euripedes' Bachae or Shakespeare's Lear. No matter how horrible and terrifying the moment, somewhere a shepherd tends sheep, a father teaches a son, lovers find each other again.
It should never cease to amaze us that the author of the Iliad and the author of the Odyssey are the same person. (Though this has been intelligently doubted.) The publisher and editor of any new edition of this work should choose passages that highlight this.
I loved this book. But I only give four stars for the reasons stated earlier. The snippets provided are too short to give an adequate understanding of the selected translators strategies and styles. Rather, I believe that certain passages as translated by different people should be used to to give us a richer understanding of Homer and his masterpieces.
It is the Poet, not the translators, who has made god-like Achilles and Helen unforgettable. The next iteration of this book should focus on him.