J.'s new translation of the Odyssey stands on the same par with his translation of the Iliad. It is a very readable and vivid rendering of the original Greek that will find wide audiences among people interested in Homeric poetry but also among students of other relevant disciplines with no knowledge of Greek. As far as accuracy is concerned, J. has made some choices as a translator that will be judged differently by people who know Greek as opposed to people who do not.
Let us look closely at the poem's famous opening:
Tell how he wandered, Muse, time and again/confounded, after he sacked Troy's citadel,/how many towns he saw and learned their ways, how many trials the man endured at sea/to save his comrades' lives, return them home.
Compare this translation of the Odyssean proem to that of Samuel Butler (1900)
Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring his men safely home.
to that of E.V. Rieu (1946; rev. 1991)
Tell me, Muse, the story of that resourceful man who was driven to wander far and wide after he had sacked the holy citadel of Troy. He saw the cities of many people and he learnt their ways. He suffered great anguish in the high seas in his struggles to preserve his life and bring his comrades home.
to that of Richmond Lattimore (1965)
Tell me, Muse, of the man of many ways, who was driven/far journeys, after he had sacked Troy's sacred citadel./Many were they whose cities he saw, whose minds he learned of,/many the pains he suffered in his spirit on the wide sea,/struggling for his own life and the homecoming of his companions.
and to that of Robert Fagles (1996)
Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns/driven time and again off course, once he had plundered/the hallowed heights of Troy./Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds,/many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea,/fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home.
Although J. opts, in the manner of most translators (but Fagles) to render the Greek ennepe as ‘tell’, he introduces various innovations that make his translation lively and poetic: (1) Its brevity (42 words) sets it apart from all the other translations quoted above (Butler: 59; Rieu: 58; Lattimore: 59; Fagles: 62) and brings it remarkably close to the brevity of the Greek text (40 words). (2) By omitting the personal pronoun and by placing the invocation to the Muse later in the line, J. avoids the rather disturbing alliteration (me-Muse) and creates a faster rhythm (Tell how he wandered, Muse), a brilliant reminiscence of the masterful immediacy of Homeric verse. (3) The well-known cumulative effect of the proem is rendered effective in J.'s translation by the repetition of indirect clauses (how he wandered … how many towns … how many trials). In this way a supple verse is created that is both fresh and close to the original. (4) The most challenging innovation is the postponement of the word ‘man’ to line 4 of J.'s translation. This is a daring decision, especially since this word (with which the Greek text begins) is the ‘topic’ of the entire epic. In cases like this, something is gained and something is lost. Here, it is fluidity and accuracy respectively. (5) J. translates the Greek polytropon as ‘confounded’. Butler has tried ‘ingenious’, Rieu ‘resourceful’, Lattimore ‘of many ways’, Fagles ‘of twists and turns’. He thus attempts to captivate both the positive and negative aspects of Odysseus' personality, whereas previous translators have either opted for a clearly positive (Butler, Rieu, Lattimore) or slightly ambivalent (Fagles) interpretation of the epithet. The question is here whether polytropos can mean ‘perplexed’. J. has sacrificed accuracy for the sake of a more nuanced reading of the Greek. This all reminds me of Dawe's (1993) ‘versatile’, another effort towards this direction.
J.'s Odyssey is lively and captivating and, as such, I readily recommend it to anyone wishing to enjoy Homer's epic. For those who have the Greek text in their mind some of J.'s renderings may strike them as too poetic, but at the end it is all a matter of taste.
