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0 pointsRed_Tarsius5y ago0 comments

Emily translated the first line of the Odissey as "Tell me about a complicated man". She almost went with "Tell me about a straying husband". Neither complicated nor straying husband appear in the original text. Pope's description (The man for wisdom’s various arts renown’d...) is closer to the epithets we are taught at school (ricco d'astuzie or dal multiforme ingegno). πολύτροπος means resourceful, of many skills, well-travelled.

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5 comments · 2 top-level

lalaithion5y ago· 3 in thread

πολύτροπος literally means "one of many ways" or even more literally "multi-turned". Translating it as "for wisdom's various arts renown'd" is just as much poetic license as "complicated".

Red_TarsiusOP5y ago

That's the first line of the proem and complicated tells us nothing about the protagonist. Everyone can be complicated, but only Odysseus is πολύτροπον. It's a quality of character few people possess. I feel like Pope's line, despite the artistic license, kept that uniqueness.

hombre_fatal5y ago

My copy in Spanish says the man of many paths (hombre de muchos senderos).

"Complicated" seems trite, almost meaningless. Though I'm willing to read beyond the first line of their translation.

leephillips5y ago

If it’s good enough for Shaft it’s good enough for this guy.

certmd5y ago

I also found her Introduction and Translator's note very good. She acknowledges her goal was not the most direct word for word accuracy but from what I remember more the general feel to how things would have been interpreted by the audience at the time. After all, these were oral works enjoyed by not just "intellectuals" in ancient Greece. The idea of having a single best translation isn't really the right goal to seek and it really wasn't her aim.

From reading her notes (and her twitter account) I've definitely gained an appreciation of how much an art in itself translation is.

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