Can anyone recommend a translation of the Odyssey?
My wife and I are planning on reading the Odyssey this year and we have to pick an translation. I've always struggled to read in translation, mostly because I get paralyzed choosing — it feels like a big choice, and if I end up not liking the book I can never tell if it was inherent to the story or because of the translation.
Can anyone help me out here? I don't mind if it is prose vs poetry, but we are doing this for fun, so I would prioritize readability over faithfulness to the Greek. I don't want anything that sounds too modern, but I also don't want to have very modern language take me out of the epic setting. I am currently leaning the Wilson translation, based on some excerpts I have read, but I am open to being convinced otherwise. Thanks!
EDIT:
Thank you to all who recommended some translations. I am narrowed down to between Fagles and Wilson, and intend to do some side by side comparisons to choose a final one before diving in!
If you are open to a somewhat more liberal retelling of it, you could try Stephen Fry's version. Especially if you are simply wanting to read it for fun and not academic rigor. If you like audiobooks, I would also strongly recommend listening to it, since Fry himself narrates it excellently.
Oh this sounds lovely.
I like Emily Wilson's version for its pace, directness, meter, reduced floridity, though I picked it because of these features and haven't read more than excerpts of others. People have a lot of strong feelings about it; you are probably going to get many answers and all with good reasons :-) ! maybe best to read some side by side excerpts and see which you vibe most with?
Not a direct answer to your question, but I figured I’d mention it anyway since it’s related:
During/after your read, you two might enjoy a listen through of EPIC, which is a musical retelling of The Odyssey.
Big fan of Emily Wilson, it uses the same number of lines as Homer, and it is written in iambic pentameter.
It is clean and a not as clunky as some of the other translations.
I also highly recommend reading Madeline miller as well. She wrote song of Achilles, Circe, Galatea. Her treatment of Greek myth is superb.
My go-to for both The Iliad and The Odyssey is Robert Fagles' hugely enjoyable modern verse translations. He puts the focus where it should be: telling an epic tale of gods, heroes and high adventure.
Natalie Haynes does it in 27 minutes here on BBC Radio
She's a Cambridge educated classicist so she does know her stuff. She's also very funny. Worth a listen but obviously it's going to leave out a lot!