The Odyssey
of
Homer
Translated by William Mann
(2022)
[Sample from the opening of the poem]
MOÚSAÊ
tell me about the man and his great will and the vastness of his many wanderings
after the sacred citadel of Troiê was destroyed by him
for many cities and their people’s minds he saw and learned
and many agonies upon the sea he suffered in his heart
when he was fighting for his life and for his men’s return
But he could not save his men despite his desire
for they were destroyed by their own depravity
for they were fools who ate the oxen of Huperiôn Êelios
so he took away from them the day of their return.
Speak of these things even to us O goddess daughter of Zeús.
All of the others who had escaped their fall and destruction were then at home
for they had escaped the war and sea
but he was alone and longing for his homecoming and his wife
when he was held by Kalupsô of the Numphêsi who is adored and divine among
goddesses
inside her hollow cave for she desired him to marry her.
But when the years revolved and the year had come
when the gods ordained he would return to his home in Ithakê
not even there would he escape the suffering against him from his friends
and he was pitied by all the gods
Except Poseidaôn whose rage would never end
against Oduseús who was like a god before he reached his own land.
But Poseidaôn had gone to the Aithiópessi whose existence is far away
for the Aithiópessi are divided into two upon the edges of mankind
and some are where Huperiôn sets and some are where he rises
and there Poseidaôn was sitting to receive a hundred sacrifices of bulls and
rams
and there he was rejoicing at the feast
but the other gods together gathered in the halls of Zeús of Ólumpos
and the father of men and gods spoke first to them
remembering within his heart the nobleness of Aígisthos
who was killed by Agamemonidês Orestês who is glorified far away.
He was remembering him when he spoke to the immortals:
”O see now how the living blame the gods
for they say their misery is from us but they themselves
by their own depravity suffer torment beyond what is their fate.
For even now beyond what was his fate
Aígisthos seduced the wedded wife of Atreïdés and killed him upon his return
although he knew that it would be his fall and death
for we had sent Hermeías Argeïphontês before to watch over him well
who told him not to kill the man and seduce his wife
for Atreïdés would be avenged by Orestês
when he became a man and longed for his own land.
So he was told by Hermeías but the mind of Aígisthos
was not persuaded by the goodness of his heart and now he has paid for all.”
REVIEW COMMENT
Mann has made a number of interesting (some might say idiosyncratic) choices in
his translation. His free verse is based on an “infinite (or French) iambic” so
that each line “is as long as it needs to be, without being constrained or
forced to obey an artificial line length”; he has decided to eschew punctuation
marks as much as possible (the sample above, for example, has about a dozen
punctuation marks in over forty lines of poetry); and he renders the Greek names
of people and places by transliterating the Greek as faithfully as possible,
with the help of various accents. In the appendix to the translation he offers a
defence of these decisions, but such explanations, here and in other
translations, are irrelevant. What matters is the translation itself. How have
these decisions affected the quality of this English version of Homer?
While the diction of the translation is accurate and clear, the lack of a
regular poetic form and the scarcity of punctuation seriously affect the overall
tone of the poem, which (to me) is curiously flat. Reading the text is easy
enough, but Mann provides little help to the reader in providing some energy to
the lines. Punctuation, after all, is not merely a matter of clarifying the
syntax; it also guides the reader through the pauses and determines in large
part the momentum of the poem (as does a regular rhythm). The lack of such help
means that reading the text (especially out loud) is a slow business, because
readers have to construct the rhythm and the pauses as they proceed.
Consider the effect of these aspects of the style is one of the most dramatic
moments in the poem, the blinding of Polyphemus. The English is clear and
accurate but the overall tone is relatively calm and expansive, the sort of
description an accurate and objective observer might make, ensuring that each
point in his description is equally important (note the frequency of the word
and to
link the details). What’s lacking is an intense feeling for the drama of the
moment.
About Mann’s treatment of the Greek names, I’m of two minds. The strangeness of
the Greek name does make familiar figures more remote, mysterious, and grand. On
the other hand, some student readers will certainly find it difficult to get
used to the practice (I learned that from using Robert Fitzgerald’s translation
in undergraduate courses).
These remarks I should qualify by the observation that Mann is an experienced
actor and has recorded on YouTube his own reading of parts of his
Odyssey.
The sample is remarkable and well worth listening to. You can access it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZrr7erEh6Y