TS: The Iliad vs The Odyssey

just to give the flavor of Logue's version (not a translation really)

Headlock. Body slam. Hands that do not reach back. Low dust.
Stormed by Chylabborak, driven in by Abassee
The light above his circle hatched with spears
Odysseus to Sheepgrove:

'Get lord Idomeneo from the ridge.'

Then prays:

'Brainchild Athena, Holy Girl,
As one you made
As calm and cool as water in a well.
I know that you have cares enough
Other than those of me and mine.
Yet, Daughter of God, without your help
We cannot last.'

Setting down her topaz saucer heaped with nectarine jelly
Emptying her blood-red mouth set in her ice-white face
Teenaged Athena jumped up and shrieked:
'Kill! Kill for me!
Better to die than to live without killing!'

Who says prayer does no good?

it's taken 3 days to get through the 70 pages of preamble. she talks a good talk, let's see if the translation's any good. (it is the most recent, took her 5 years, and people seem to like it. it was also 11x what i normally spend on ebooks)

done with the iliad. took longer than expected (and the layout meant that a page was often two pages long on the kobo)

it's an odd thing, something modern in its framing - it's a month towards the end of a 10 year war, misses all the reasons AND the resolutions (doesn't cover, for instance, the death of achilles or the wooden horse). there is a lot of tedious, gory fighting. book 2 is pretty much a list of ships.

it's a great story but some of the modern retellings are more enjoyable (and there are many)

It is very gory, thats one of the things that stuck with me. How many ways can someone poetically describe a spear going through a person's body?