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Summary: Bad glossary makes this otherwise fine edition useless
Review: Chapman's 1611 translation of Homer is probably the best that's been done into English, and this edition is well designed and printed. BUT Chapman can't be read without a glossary -- he invented literally hundreds of words and has special meanings for hundreds more. The academic num-nums that put this stupid Bollingen edition together gave absolutely no indication in 600 pages of text as to which words are defined in the glossary -- not a footnote, not an asterisk, nothing. Your choice is to look up virtually every one of the hundreds of thousands of words of text to see if it's in the glossary, or just to read blindly on knowing that you're probably missing 50 percent of the meaning of the text. Someone should have lost their job over this piece of university nonsense.
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Summary: Definitely the best way to experience the Iliad in English!
Review: Chapman's rendition of the Iliad was done at a time when life was not very much different from Homer's time. The chief pleasure in reading Chapman's translation rather than a more recent rendering is its utter lack of any terms or turns of phrase that conjure up the modern world. Chapman's diction and grammar take us back to the pre-industrial world. Another great pleasure in reading Chapman's Iliad is its foundational influence on our language and thought as English speakers. What the King James Bible is to English prose, Chapman's Iliad is to English poetry. And, what marks this book off as fashionable, even today, is the fact that the tale of the Iliad is still as well know in our own time as it was in Chapman's. This is a truly great work that can only be experienced in our own language. Chapman, like every poetic translator, cannot merely translate, but rather improves upon and interprets, and as such he takes Greek warriors and turns them into 17th Century Anglo-Saxon ones. Thus, we have a poem for our enjoyment that is both Classical Greek and Classical English at once! This poem is one of our cultural icons as English speakers, and, like the works of Shakespeare will always remain at the forefront of our consciousness.
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Summary: Chapman's Translation a Must
Review: I can't compare this edition to other editions of Chapman. Having read Pope and Rouse, I will say that neither is like Chapman. He lacks Pope's refinement of language, eschews the couplet, and is bluntly merciless in his views of earlier translators (expressed in copious translator's notes). Pope displays the mantle of civilization; Chapman reveals the gut and muscle that propels it. And Rouse is prose not poetry, so conveys the plot and the air of epic, but not the force that must have been evident in the original. So if you went to the trouble of finding this book here, and are not burdened with numerous other editions, you will enjoy it. At the price, it's real cheap entertainment.
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Summary: Classic Done Right
Review: I've always wanted to read the Odyssey, but could never get into it...that's the problem with reading books in translation; if you get a bad translation, the book sucks. But Chapman does a wonderful job with Homer...this is about as beautifully poetic as you can get. The other great thing about this is that it's written in iambic pentameter, (although the Illiad is done with the fourteen syllable line,) the meter that Shakespeare used for his plays. If you're into Elizabethan writing at all, this is a great book for you.
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Summary: Dear Kent Smith
Review: My favorite line in Chapman's translation of the ILIAD: '...they saw the powre of beautie in the Queene ascend.' This was when Helen came to the wall to see the battle and was approaching the elders who were, despite their age, left a little breathless... The line not only demonstrates the poetry of the Chapman translation but it also demonstrates that much of the poetry is Chapman's own and not Homer's. You'll not find that line (or anything like it) in other translations. Perhaps it was there 'between the lines' in the original.....in which case great, poetic translations of Homer's epics (read Pope, Chapman) would be mandatory for anybody who wants to experience all of Homer in English (to the extent, obviously, that that's possible...) Now for an edition of Chapman's ODYSSEY...
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Summary: Dear Mr. Smith
Review: My review of the book is just to correct Kent Smith's shockingly ignorant statement. Wouldn't one's confusion over a word's meaning necessitate the turning to the glossary? Why rely on obtrusive footnotes? Why not let your ignorance of Chapman's extraordinary, polyglot, maddeningly-diverse vocabulary be the guide?My advice is the same I'd give to a child: if you don't know a word LOOK IT UP. Advice you don't need to be "an academic num-num"--although I am an academic--to think of, nor heed. I might also suggest looking in the Oxford English Dictionary--created by academic num nums, but accessible to such enlighteded common readers as Mr. Smith--it has many of Chapman's neologisms--to save Mr. Smith the trouble of looking up this extraordinarily difficult phrase, it means "new words," from Greek NEOS "new" and LOGOS "word" (Isn't erudition, however minor, fun and useful, Mr. Smith?--and is quite exciting in the bargain. By the way, this edition of Chapman is by far the best I have seen; Chapman's translation is also highly recommended.
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