Mythology
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Anyone starting-with-the-Greeks?
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Hamish
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Jul 04, 2015 03:08PM
How are you finding it so far? Let's discuss!
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I was surprised that this book was written so well. I thought the legends would be presented formally and objectively like an article, but I was glad that Hamilton took it in his hands to add a bit of prosaic language in there.
Really enjoyed this book, great starting off point. Just ordered Robert Fagles "Iliad" and "Odyssey". Going by the the /lit/ recommendation diagram but not sticking to it 100%, I dont really feel the need to read a whole book on the Trojan war for example, although I may come back to it at some point.Have you gotten any further than this book?
Also, Edith Hamilton was a woman, Ben.
Edith is a woman?? There's a splash of irony. Edith writes like a man as Homer writes like a woman. Fagles' translation of the Iliad is meant to be great, but I've only read the Chapman version - which if you're into Shakespearean English, is way better. I think Chapman was way more devoted to the translation too. At the end of the Iliad he writes that before he went to sleep, he recited an ancient Greek prayer.
I thought it quite showed that the book was written by a female author in the way she portrays the war for Troy with a focus on the war crimes committed against women - I feel that men, especially those of that time, prefer to put more focus on the "heroic" deeds.
I use Mythology by Edith Hamilton every semester in the developmental reading and writing college class I teach. It is effective in so many ways!
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