The Iliad Paperback – August 6, 2024

I read The Iliad annually. It is easily my favorite book and is the one I always choose when people ask questions like, “If you were inexplicably marooned on an island and for some vague reason could only have one book, which one would it be?”I have most of the major translations into English and for a long time gravitated toward Lattimore because it is more poetic than other popular translations like Fagles.This translation does not disappoint. It is more clearly poetic than Lattimore with what are probably better translation choices. I particularly like her use of Iambic Pentameter here. It’s not the same in Greek, but for English readers, it’s great.She really captures the essence of things in new ways that challenged my earlier conceptions—but that could also be a payoff for reading it again, as the Iliad continually rewards me whenever I reread it. The combat is as brutal and heart-wrenching as ever, and this translation lays bare the emotional stakes on both the war front and the domestic front.If you are new to The Iliad, the introduction provides a really good background and discusses the goals of this translation as well as the reasons for stylistic choices. If you’re not new to the Iliad this translation is a rewarding read and provides a fresh perspective.

A great read for this first-timer dipping into Homer. Emily Wilson's iambic pentameter moves like "ichor, the liquid that flows through the blessed gods." And I loved switching back and forth between reading the text myself and listening to the marvelous reading by Audra McDonald on the Audible recording. I highly recommend both the book and the audiobook, which I found captivating from beginning to end, unlike other translations which I had attempted to read previously.

Fantastic translation.Get the audiobook, as well. Excellent narrator.

This is a fantastic translation of one of the foundational books of Western culture. The style is easy to read and flows very comfortably. I would not recommend any other translation for someone interested in Greek literature,

Emily Wilson’s translation of The Iliad is nothing short of breathtaking. She brings Homer’s epic to life with clarity, power, and emotional depth, making it both readable and deeply resonant. The language is vivid yet precise, capturing the raw intensity of battle, the complexities of honor, and the tragic fates of warriors and kin.

I have read slowly and carefully through Book 22 of the Iliad, comparing Fagles’ and Wilson’s translations with the Greek. My impression is that in book 22 Wilson has done a marvelous job of recreating the rapidity, drive, and drama that constitute the essence of Homer’s narrative genius. She succeeds in communicating what she calls in her Translator’s Note (page lxvii) the Iliad’s “intense emotional and poetic power.”When I first read Fagles’ translation, I was dazzled by its brilliance, and that impression has been reinforced by subsequent readings. I never thought it could be surpassed. But, in my opinion, Wilson surpassed it in Book 22.However, Homer began the Iliad by announcing its subject with its first word, menin (rage). He characterized menin with the adjective oulomenen, which he emphasized by putting it at the beginning of the second line and having it end the Iliad’s first clause. Fagles’ version is as close to perfection as possible, “Rage – sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles/murderous, doomed.” His “murderous, doomed” brilliantly captures the active-passive connotations of oulomenen, along with its ominous ouo vowel sound and rolling mn consonants.Wilson butchered the beginning. Her first word, “Goddess,” emphasizes a goddess (the Muse) who plays no role in the action of the Iliad. Wilson follows that with, “sing of the cataclysmic wrath.” In her Translator’s Note (page lxv) she boasts that “cataclysmic” has the same number of syllables as oulomenen. But it has a totally different feel from oulomenen, its weight buries the crucial word “wrath,” and Wilson ruined its impact by transferring it into the first line. Moreover, the archaic sounding “wrath” muffles the violence of menin, from which the English word maniac derives.In line three, Fagles “hurling” conveys the force of the verb Homer used. Wilson translates it with the colorless and inaccurate “sent.”In fact, throughout the beginning, Fagles is vastly superior to Wilson.I will also point out that her translation of the often quoted and much admired 12.243 (her line 293) as “Patriotism is the one true bird” is ludicrous. (Here again Fagles’ translation – “Fight for your country – that is the best, the only omen” – is close to perfection.)I ASK OTHERS WHO READ ANCIENT GREEK TO CHOOSE PASSAGES FOR CLOSE READING AND LET US KNOW WHAT THEY THINK.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXI will add that Wilson’s translation of the first line of the Odyssey is also horrendous. There Homer characterizes Odysseus as polutropos, which, like oulomenen, is both active and passive, “much turning” and “much turned.” Odysseus is both exceptionally versatile and he is thrown around by circumstances. Wison’s “complicated” misses both meanings. Here again, Fagles gets it right: “the man of twists and turns, driven time and again off course.”