carlin
Every summer solstice for the past few years, I've attempted to read a book in its entirety during the day (as it is the longest day). The first year I read Battle Royale, and this year I was contemplating reading Much Ado About Nothing, but with the upcoming Nolan film, I decided that this was a more apt (and readable) classic option
Unfortunately to say, I found this to be underwhelming even accounting for this being a very old text with foreign modes of storytelling.
In terms of stuff I appreciated, Wilson's translation is really great: very readable while still preserving the beauty and the strangeness of the text. I also did really like how much emphasis there is on hunger being a burden and something we all have to fend off. And as such there is a lot of emphasis on meal times with washing hands, mixing wine, preparing food etc. Finally I loved how emotional all the guys are all the time, just openly sobbing.
However my main grudges with the text are that it is so repetitive (and yes, I know that it's an oral tradition, however how many times does it need to be explained that Penelope weaves and unravels the cloth every day for three years) and there is a lot which seems pointless/overly long winded. And while the former maybe is a benefit to it being spoken, I'm really surprised that all of it was preserved from generation to generation. I would skip whole books if I was the one orating it. To elaborate about the pointless/long winded sections, cunning Odysseus gives multiple extended false backstories to different people (pointless) and we spend 4 books with Telemachus asking people where his dad is (they don't know) and another 4 where Odysseus and Telemachus talk about killing the suitors but actually don't (long winded). And to be fair, I'm sure they all had more resonance to the people of the time when they were hearing the story, but it made the experience of reading the book drag.
In terms of the arc of the narrative, I had assumed that Odysseus would face all these labours on his way home, however his way home is actually very straight-forward. All the famous stories are things that he tells as a guest of honour to his hosts. Which means that there's not really much stakes, as all the stories are in the past tense, however maybe this is a false standard to hold it to given that we are dealing with the Gods and prophecies. Anyway, the mode of the story is not always conducive to the narrative, and I am pretty eager to see how Christopher Nolan navigates his adaptation.
Every summer solstice for the past few years, I've attempted to read a book in its entirety during the day (as it is the longest day). The first year I read Battle Royale, and this year I was contemplating reading Much Ado About Nothing, but with the upcoming Nolan film, I decided that this was a more apt (and readable) classic option
Unfortunately to say, I found this to be underwhelming even accounting for this being a very old text with foreign modes of storytelling.
In terms of stuff I appreciated, Wilson's translation is really great: very readable while still preserving the beauty and the strangeness of the text. I also did really like how much emphasis there is on hunger being a burden and something we all have to fend off. And as such there is a lot of emphasis on meal times with washing hands, mixing wine, preparing food etc. Finally I loved how emotional all the guys are all the time, just openly sobbing.
However my main grudges with the text are that it is so repetitive (and yes, I know that it's an oral tradition, however how many times does it need to be explained that Penelope weaves and unravels the cloth every day for three years) and there is a lot which seems pointless/overly long winded. And while the former maybe is a benefit to it being spoken, I'm really surprised that all of it was preserved from generation to generation. I would skip whole books if I was the one orating it. To elaborate about the pointless/long winded sections, cunning Odysseus gives multiple extended false backstories to different people (pointless) and we spend 4 books with Telemachus asking people where his dad is (they don't know) and another 4 where Odysseus and Telemachus talk about killing the suitors but actually don't (long winded). And to be fair, I'm sure they all had more resonance to the people of the time when they were hearing the story, but it made the experience of reading the book drag.
In terms of the arc of the narrative, I had assumed that Odysseus would face all these labours on his way home, however his way home is actually very straight-forward. All the famous stories are things that he tells as a guest of honour to his hosts. Which means that there's not really much stakes, as all the stories are in the past tense, however maybe this is a false standard to hold it to given that we are dealing with the Gods and prophecies. Anyway, the mode of the story is not always conducive to the narrative, and I am pretty eager to see how Christopher Nolan navigates his adaptation.