Book Review: The Odyssey, Homer

Olive is mid-nap and I am busy dunking as much galaxy chocolate into my tea as I possibly can. Heaven.

So...I'll try and be brief and not waffle too much but I know that will hard. I started The Odyssey after reading The Blood Meridian as they compared it to the Odyssey in the introduction. It's always a book that I've wanted to read but it's always scared me. Greek epic poetry always sits highly with me as the greatest pieces of literature but I put it out of my reach because it felt like I needed to climb a mountain to read it. But, no - what I've found is that it depends on the translation you read. I'm fascinated with translations. During my teacher training year, I got an Italian sixth former to read a Petrarchan sonnet in Italian and I read the English. The Italian proceeded to tell us how different they actually are in meaning. It fascinates me what is lost in translation. Not just the words change, the entire meaning. 

Right, Olive is up. I will continue this tonight when she's in bed. I'm glad I can dedicate time to this now I have my first week of teaching back at school planned and I have a tiny bit of head-space to write up my recent pondering of the novels I've been reading (or epic poems, should I say...!).

Scrap the above, we had steak on the sofa instead of working (much needed) so I’m writing on the way to my Mum’s house. Anyway, Homer’s Odyssey.

The translation I read first was edited by E.V. Rieu, published in 1946 – trying to make the classics available to every reader. He went to Oxford and studied Classics and even got to vice-president of the Royal Society of Literature. Every night during WWII, as bombs were falling in London, he would sit and translate The Odyssey with his wife and daughters. You can hear his 1940s sociolect in certain phrases or words. I found that quite enjoyable. It’s like you were reading someone else’s ideas from a time long ago. It was soothing. I never thought I’d say that reading a translation of Homer would be soothing. Oh, how times have changed!

The biggest thing I noted was that the translation was in prose, not blank verse like Alexander Pope’s 1899 edition that I picked up on eBay. It’s beautiful. I’m amazed how one can write blank verse for so long. Continuous blank verse. Continuous heroic couplets. It’s phenomenal. I can barely write a Shakespearean sonnet (14 lines) without feeling dizzy. But epic poems? I have big respect. I’m teaching Moonrise (a new verse novel) to my Year 9s next week and they’ve got no idea how easy it’ll be compared to Pope’s Odyssey!

For me, I love the beauty of the poetry but I enjoyed the narrative of Rieu’s more. I struggled to finish Pope’s – in fact, I didn’t. The footnotes by Coleridge were far more interesting. On page 17, he mentions how ‘heroic manners’ and ‘godlike warriors’ are fewer and far between compared to the Iliad. The degeneration of the old way of life being encroached by a modern system because of how the people are over shadowed by the warriors who fought in Troy. This reminds me of our generation and how it’s diluted since the war heroes. However, the Covid era has created heroes in the NHS and other areas on the frontline so hopefully, out of all of this, maybe our ‘snowflake’ generation won’t be so flaky?!

Anyway, Rieu’s translation, to me, is about the determination of humans and how much we can suffer;  it’s magical, mystical and thrilling. It’s a 'proper' story. It’s reminded how hospitality is the kindest form of generosity. They are very sacrificial. Home owners would spare their best items (they all seem to give silver bowls with gold rims?!) as a parting gift to their guests and the equivalent to us mere mortals would be giving each other our best home grown vegetable of the season (thank you Uncle Stewart for the BEST cucumber I’ve ever had…!). Birds are also seen as omens/good luck charms which is apparent in a lot of literature. So much so, one of my ex-students wrote an incredible essay on Macbeth by discussing the inclusion of birds and nature.

One of the biggest things I remember is that Odysseus was away for 19 years…19 years! Also, Odysseus and his men spent a whole year with Circe…a whole year?! Slightly confused by that. On the whole though, Odysseus was dedicated to getting home. He was determined. The importance of home seems central to this translation. Does that reflect Rieu’s life with living under the war raging on above him, or, was it actually one of Homer’s main ideas?

Gender. Something that all students love to study. It’s popular but it all depends on who has written it and when. So, this translation was written by a middle aged white man in Britain. I was prepared for some sexist and traditional viewpoints. However, a lot of the men cry…?! They weap. This fascinated me; how men were described as being overwhelmed with emotion to cry in front of other men. This doesn’t happen today. Men are meant to be 'macho'. Men are meant to be ‘strong’. I’m so glad that men cry in The Odyssey. Men should cry and they shouldn’t be ashamed to – it’s such a strange societal norm that we’ve created that men are ashamed to cry or show emotion. 

Power. Women seemed to have the caring, maternal power; men seemed to have destructive power. The goddesses (mainly Pallas Athene) seem to weave their magic throughout. I remember a quote from the translation: “goddesses, constrained by feminine modesty” – this idea that women are ‘constrained’ while Penelope has no voice in the novel until the end and she’s alone and crying pretty much the whole time. She’s also seen as incredibly patient; she spent three whole years on a spinning wheel to fool her suitors…! Slightly unbelievable but then this is a text where gods can change the weather. 

Incest. Who knew it would be so common in classical literature. I knew cousins married each other quite commonly, but an uncle marrying his niece…?! Also…as a little side note, I thought it was quite funny how Rieu described the act of making love as ‘laying together’…could this be the original form of ‘getting laid’ in today’s jargon?!

I did compare the first two pages of Pope's and Rieu's translations but I could write a whole close analysis on it and right now, I need to chill before the return to work tomorrow. 

On the whole, this translation surprised me. Rieu achieved his goal in that it has definitely made the classics accessible to a normal person like me. I'm glad I've conquered it. Next up, teaching and school INSET, then I'll be back for more reviews of what I've been reading.