 First edition cover by Guy Fleming | |
| Author | Richmond Lattimore |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Harper and Row |
Publication date | 1965 |
The Odyssey of Homer is an English translation of the Odyssey of Homer by American classicist Richmond Lattimore, published in 1965. Lattimore's faithfulness to the original Homeric Greek, replicating the use of dactylic hexameter and epithets, made it a staple of undergraduate classical studies programmes.
Lattimore matched the dactylic hexameter of the original Homeric text; [1] it is regarded as a generally faithful line-for-line translation. [2] Previous translations favoured changing the poetic metre into a metre regularly used in the target language, a decision made by Lattimore's contemporary Robert Fitzgerald for his translation. [3] It is mostly written in free verse, [4] with a "loose six-beat rhythm". [2]
Lattimore's translation maintained much of the original text's repetition, an important feature of the poem's origins in oral tradition. [2] Lattimore did remove some epithets for stylistic purposes, [5] but one critic said the translation reproduced most of them. [2]
The book was first published in 1965 by Harper and Row. [6] The cover of the book, which incorporates a woodcut of Odysseus' boat based on the Dionysus Cup, was designed by Guy Fleming. [7]
Lattimore's translation was widely commended for its fidelity to the Homeric Greek and it remains a staple of literature classes. [8]
The translation's faithfulness has been questioned by modern scholars. D. S. Carne-Ross, an eminent 20th-century translation critic, judged the translation very harshly. Among other reasons, Carne-Ross cited Lattimore's description of Oddyseus building a raft and the removal of some key epithets. Classicist and 2017 Odyssey translator Emily Wilson concurred with much of Carne-Ross' writing but highlighted readers have classically enjoyed the accessibility of the translation and Lattimore's use of repetition in his imagery. [9]