Homer's The Odyssey, translated by Emily Wilson discussion

We're currently planning to begin the group read in March 2018. Closer to that time, I'll post a reading schedule here, although members are welcome to read at their own pace.

Kris, I received a notification that Wilson's translation of the Odyssey reading begins February 1st. Has the schedule changed? I thought it was planned for March 1st. I may not be able to start on time because of reading The Iliad.

Sue, I think the notification you received probably referred to the Lombardo translation of the Odyssey (scheduled for Feb 1). :)

Haaze wrote: "Sue, I think the notification you received probably referred to the Lombardo translation of the Odyssey (scheduled for Feb 1). :)"

Ah! Oh that's good. I really couldn't squeeze in Wilson by next Thursday, at least not and enjoy the experience.

Sue wrote: "Kris, I received a notification that Wilson's translation of the Odyssey reading begins February 1st. Has the schedule changed? I thought it was planned for March 1st. I may not be able to start on..."

I received the same notification. I figured it was a mistake.

Sorry for any confusion -- one of our members had asked for optional reads of other translations of The Odyssey before the Wilson read begins in March. I'll send a message to the group to clarify.

Hi Everyone:

As promised, here's the proposed schedule for our read of Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey.

Sunday, February 25 - Saturday, March 3: Introduction and Translator's Note
Sunday, March 4 - Saturday, March 10: Books 1 and 2
Sunday, March 11 - Saturday, March 17: Books 3 and 4
Sunday, March 18 - Saturday, March 24: Books 5 and 6
Sunday, March 25 - Saturday, March 31: Books 7 and 8
Sunday, April 1 - Saturday, April 7: Books 9 and 10
Sunday, April 8 - Saturday, April 14: Books 11 and 12
Sunday, April 15 - Saturday, April 21: Books 13 and 14
Sunday, April 22 - Saturday, April 28: Books 15 and 16
Sunday, April 29 - Saturday, May 5: Books 17 and 18
Sunday, May 6 - Saturday, May 12: Books 19 and 20
Sunday, May 13 - Saturday, May 19: Books 21 and 22
Sunday, May 20 - Saturday, May 26: Books 23 and 24
Sunday, May 27 - Saturday, June 2: Wrap up discussion of the work as a whole and the experience of the group read; looking ahead to other reads and topics for those interested in continuing?

Kris wrote: "Hi Everyone:

As promised, here's the proposed schedule for our read of Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey.

Sunday, February 25 - Saturday, March 3: Introduction and Translator's Note
Sunda..."

I'm so looking forward to this. Thanks, Kris.

Thanks, George! I'm excited about it.

I'm enjoying this translation, lovely to read aloud...(when no one is around to think I'm going a but nutty....)

Thanks. Excited to start.

I have an ulterior motive to tagging along on this, Kris. As well as reading the new translation (by your colleague in some sense I think?), I hope to read, on the same schedule (Good luck!!) the 24 books of Nikos Kazantzakis' The Odyssey A Modern Sequel, a book that I've owned for decades but have never got farther in than about 100 pages.

Quoting from the Intro, K's poem consists of "33,333 lines of an extremely unfamiliar seventeen-syllable unrhymed iambic measure of eight beats." It's much longer than Homer, judging by Book I. Homer has 444 lines, K has 1305 lines. (Woe is me.)

Ooh Ted -- that looks like a book I need to tackle as well. I bet others in the group may want to join in as well!

And yes, we're all very proud to have Emily Wilson at Penn!!

Thanks for the schedule, Kris. I'm looking forward to this.

Ted, good luck with your project. Sounds quite challenging...and I'll be interested in how it goes.

Hopefully I can keep up. March is shaky up to be a tough month for me at work, however I am sure looking forward to this.

I just bought Emily Wilson’s eBook. Also picked up Joyce’s Ulysses and accompanying materials. It’ll be interesting to compare. I read the Fagles edition because I wanted a version similar to a Homeric poem.

It’ll be interesting to compare the Fagles with the Wilson translation.

Thank you Kris! I don't think my copy will arrive in time to start, but I appreciate that this will span three months and give me time to catch up. :-)

Getting ready for some March Madness here, where all the fans are "Homers"....

It’s sitting on my bedside table, just waiting for me to start. I honestly can’t wait.

Did people see Akala’s Odyssey on BBC 4? Really interesting programme by a modern poet/hip hop artist I LOVE that Homer genuinely is for everyone.

So happy to see you all, Sue, Guy, Aloha, Kathleen, Ken (great pun, btw), and Emma. And no worries if some of you need to start late -- I've planned a rather leisurely 3-month long read, knowing that schedules can get crazy. I'm hoping the pace works for everyone!

Discussion threads now posted for the group read of Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey. I've pinned the schedule to the top of the group read folder: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group... I also have created a discussion thread for each book, so if people start or finish the read early they can still post comments without worrying about spoilers.

Wow, Kris! Thank you so much for doing this. I'm in awe of your organization skills.

Tamara wrote: "Wow, Kris! Thank you so much for doing this. I'm in awe of your organization skills."

Thanks, Tamara -- I'm just sorry it took so long for me to get the folder set up.

Oh Kris, you are doing Herculean work here. Thanks for all you have done. And I, for one, am looking forward to the leisurely pace of the schedule. It allows for so much flexibility.

My pleasure, Sue! And I'm so glad the schedule looks good to you. I went back and forth about the best pace for a while.