The Odyssey

[Triclone]

Did you read the short version that you read in school or the long version that is actualy several books? I read the short one in 9th grade. But I heared there is a much longer one this is several books,

[theGovna92]

Just started reading it this week.

[Titleist Man]

  Triclone said:

Did you read the short version that you read in school or the long version that is actualy several books? I read the short one in 9th grade. But I heared there is a much longer one this is several books,

The "short" version i have never heard of one in several books though.

[Shorty]

  Titleist Man said:

Believe it or not i actually know a bit of latin have to learn in for school. Pretty dumb to be learning a dead language IMHO.

Perhaps you need to spend a little time working on your English. A knowledge of Latin may help.

Julius Caesar did not say what your pretentious little quotation with the misplaced quotation marks claims. He did not speak English.

[Spackler-esque]

  Triclone said:

Did you read the short version that you read in school or the long version that is actualy several books? I read the short one in 9th grade. But I heared there is a much longer one this is several books,

  Titleist Man said:

The "short" version i have never heard of one in several books though.

It's called the abridged version, undoubtedly. I hate those things. First time I read

Frankenstein and The Count of Monte Cristo they were abridge versions that I'd been given. I didn't notice as I didn't know the stories. Didn't notice the difference until I read the unabridged years later. At that point I was pissed off that I'd been given a shit copy. They quickly found their way into the garbage. The real version is split up into books. It's like chapters.

[denver_nuggs_15]

I'm not a huge fan of translated books. They lose meaning IMO. If I could read Greek, I'd be more inclined to read The Odyssey and The Iliad.

I also don't understand why I have to read a translation from Greek in an English class. I was in British lit when we had to read part of The Odyssey. Wtf. It's a Greek book, not British. And it's translated.

It wasn't bad, but I wasn't overly impressed with it either. Most of the books that I've read in school were not good. Some were bad. I'm more of a fan of non-fiction anyway, so what do I know?

[Titleist Man]

  Shorty said:

Perhaps you need to spend a little time working on your English. A knowledge of Latin may help.

Ok well sorry about my post i had to go somewhere and i was typing very fast. I also realize that he didnt speak english but its the translation(which upon your comment has been changed). Guess you are right though do need to work on my english just a bit

[ChiChiIsMe]

Once you finish up The Odyssey grab Plato's Republic ....who knows you might even figure out how things will turn out w/POTUS BO........ ;)

[Uber$winG]

I’ve been watching this thread ever since it populated. Strictly speaking, the actual text, The Odyssey , is a translation, i.e., from one medium to another; because as we all well know, Homer was not a writer - but a bard.

In my estimation and on the whole, Hellenistic literature is both soporific and didactic crap. That is to say, it both puts one to sleep while it force feeds one its moral message (which is - man is the measure of all things; whereas, man is really the unmeasured measurer.)

Skip The Republic and move right onto Nietzsche’s Twilight of the Idols .

[Spackler-esque]

  Über$winG said:

I’ve been watching this thread ever since it populated. Strictly speaking, the actual text,

To start with, when you copy down spoken word you are not translating, you are transcribing, hence why a copy of a speech is called a transcript and not a translation. So,

The Odyssey is a translated transcription as it was originally of oral tradition in ancient Greek and is now written in, well, many, many languages.

  Über$winG said:

In my estimation and on the whole, Hellenistic literature is both soporific and didactic crap. That is to say, it both puts one to sleep while it force feeds one its moral message (which is - man is the measure of all things; whereas, man is really the unmeasured measurer.)

To each his own. But being condescending is a way to seem like a giant pain in the ass, not to get your point across.

Ahh, the beauty of literary criticism of ancient works, where as long as you can find one example you are never truly wrong because authors intent is, well, a little hard to really and truly know. You've reduced a culture down to one sentence. Good job. Too bad it doesn't work that way or Greek Civilization and other Classics courses and what-not would be very short and very boring. As I said, to each his own. If you're going to lay into Greek writing as a whole without actually making any worthwhile comment on The Odyssey or any other work of Classical literature, why post?

  Über$winG said:

Skip

That all depends on what you're trying to understand. If you want discourse that is still considered base philosophy and political science and that are pretty cool, go Plato. If you want to wade through Nietzsche and deal with his sense on morality, why not? Either way you're being force few someone else's view of the world, which was part of your problem with Greek literature to begin with.

I don't know Nietzsche well enough to really provide a rebuttal other than to say that books are a lot like golf clubs: everyone likes something different and you won't know if you like it until you try it. Either way, staying on topic would be nice. So you prefer Roman culture to Greek culture, ehh?