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Tuesday 28 December 2004

A reading list of a different variety [Muz]

Having heard good things about Dan Simmons' Ilium from both Lurker in blog 181 and a friend of mine who is a professor of literature, I thought "Hey, might be something good there" and picked it up.
However, I thought before reading this reworking of Homer's classic, it might be worth reading the Iliad first. (I know most of the story, having read books about Greek mythology, but never the great work itself). I ordered the Oxford World's Classics edition and have just gotten around to starting it. What can I say, other than "woah", in a suitably monosyllabic Keanu Reeves fashion. This is nearly 500 pages of verse, with a cast of dozens if not hundreds of characters, composed by a man who very probably didn't have the aid of a formal written language to write it down. Poets would memorise this literal epic, and then recite it verbatim. The sheer scale of it boggles the mind.
Anyway, I digress. I'm only a few books (chapters) in, but already there's been enough about ancient Greek culture and mythology to get me wanting more. I've already ordered the Odyssey and the Aeniad; can any of the more cultured and learned among us suggest any more sagas in a similar vein that might be of interest?

10 comments:

  1. Muz - the Iliad & Odyssey are most renowned in their current tranlsations by Robert Fagles who has done an astoundingly flowing job for the modern ear while getting enormous plaudits for having remained faithful to the original(s). I bought the two original hard backs when they were published and they are fantastic books. I utterly recommend getting these.

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  2. A professor of literature recommending a sci-fi book? Holy shit!

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  3. Ahhh c'mon you missed the comedy opportunity that a real professor would be a friend of an undergrad. He clearly wants Muz's taut little navy butt......

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  4. I don't think navy boys have tight bottoms...

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  5. Fancy getting double 0wned on a gag about your "mate" the Professor. It'd be like realising you had a Doctor of Arsetrology in the clan....

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  6. Sigh. And people wonder why no-one blogs.

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  7. Awwww c'm ere lover and give us a good hard squirrel nutkin.

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  8. Oedipus the King is the 'other' epic poem (apart from the 3 you list) people still study around the world

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  9. Oedipus is the poem most people learn bouncing their mother on their knee.....

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  10. When I did this stuff in school Oedipus was the one I liked best..
    I'll be telling that to a doctor or a judge in the future, I can tell :)

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