Homer still holds up because he repeats this same narrative echo in the form of advice over and over:
“Hey, lesser God, go and give that mortal these instructions.”
“Sure thing. Hey, you! Zeus says, ‘instructions’ (verbatim).
“Gee thanks. Hey, wife or friend or whatever, Zeus says ‘instructions’ (verbatim), what do you think?”
“Damn, you better follow ‘instructions’ (verbatim).”
Reader: You fool!
“I’m no fool!” [disregards instructions, dies]*
14th book of 2024: “The Iliad", by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson.
I really enjoyed Wilson’s “Odyssey” and “Oedipus Tyrannos” translations and had hoped to get to this last fall when I put it on the to-read pile. Alas.
I’ve never read any The Iliad before, and it does kinda go on a bit (really? that’s your thoughts on the Iliad? sure why not, is “it was good” better?).
Wilson manages to sneak in some slapstick amid all the brutality.
(previously: https://mastodon.social/@gravely/103030875431089669)
