The Iliad: A New Translation by Caroline Alexander
Written by Homer and Caroline Alexander
Narrated by Dominic Keating
The Iliad: A New Translation by Caroline Alexander
Written by Homer and Caroline Alexander
Narrated by Dominic Keating
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Description
With her virtuoso translation, classicist and bestselling author Caroline Alexander brings to life Homer’s timeless epic of the Trojan War
Composed around 730 B.C., Homer’s Iliad recounts the events of a few momentous weeks in the protracted ten-year war between the invading Achaeans, or Greeks, and the Trojans in their besieged city of Ilion. From the explosive confrontation between Achilles, the greatest warrior at Troy, and Agamemnon, the inept leader of the Greeks, through to its tragic conclusion, The Iliad explores the abiding, blighting facts of war.
Soldier and civilian, victor and vanquished, hero and coward, men, women, young, old—The Iliad evokes in poignant, searing detail the fate of every life ravaged by the Trojan War. And, as told by Homer, this ancient tale of a particular Bronze Age conflict becomes a sublime and sweeping evocation of the destruction of war throughout the ages.
Carved close to the original Greek, acclaimed classicist Caroline Alexander’s new translation is swift and lean, with the driving cadence of its source—a translation epic in scale and yet devastating in its precision and power.
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About the author
Peter Green is Dougherty Centennial Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Texas at Austin and Adjunct Professor of Classics at the University of Iowa. He is the author of both historical studies and translations of poetry, including The Poems of Catullus and Apollonios’s The Argonautika, both by UC Press.
Reviews
What people think about The Iliad
4.1Reader reviews
- (5/5)Homer's Iliad is an epic in all definitions of the word. Fagles does Homer great justice in preserving the iambic hexameter of the verse while capturing the true essence of the great Trojan War. Despite a difference of almost 3000 years, the nature of the human spirit remains intact and prevails as the motivation for all actions of this great epic. Achilles and numerous other characters reveal the constant nature of the human spirit and its ability to triumph and be defeated.
- (5/5)Interestingly enough I was able to get through it easily. I didn't skip at all even though there was mostly a lot of fighting. Who killed whom- how they died. Gods were interesting. (I did actually skip the 2nd chapter about who went to the Trojan War- Gods kept switching sides.
- (3/5)Glad I read it, but it was a long haul getting through.
- (4/5)The Fitzgerald translation is pretty much still the standard and it preserves the meter of Homer pretty well.
- (5/5)Gory, long, and strangely moving. The action is pretty much nonstop, and the characters felt like real people. This is the only translation I've read, so I can't compare to others, but it was pretty smooth reading.
- (4/5)What is this story? Timeless themes tangled in archaic notions that try the patience, but then wild and rhythmic passages that would hold up against any great poet of the modern age. It's a conundrum. At times so difficult I feared I wouldn't be able to pound through it, at other times stealing nights away until 4 a.m., full maddening fevered reading that left me nervy and with the chants of Greek names going through my dreams. My relationship to The Iliad is far different to my late-summer, torpid tale-spinning romance with The Odyssey. It's full of things that sit funny with me: Achilles, the anti-heroic hero, spiteful, vengeful, unmoved; Zeus, tyrant yet yielding; Athena, a mysteriously fierce female in a time of spurned and maligned women. The span of events is peculiar. We see neither the actions and consequences that launched the Achaean onslaught of Troy, nor do we get to hear the legends of Troy's end (i.e. Trojan Horse) or Achilles downfall (Paris' winged arrow to the ankle). It's assumed we already know that.In fact, you go in already knowing everything. The weight of fate, and the way the characters--knowing full well how things are going to come out--respond is the source of the pathos. Achilles: winding tighter in rage as his days are numbered; the gods batting at Achaeans like bored housecats though they know ultimate victory goes against Troy. Yes, the petty spats of the gods echoing out in massacre of mortals and changing tides of gruesome war. Gore and detailed guts. Rhythm. Ritual. Timelessness.As an aside: the Fagles translation is wonderful. Recommended.