current read 🌿
and yuhhh, I’m wearing a jumper. Summer’s gone.
I’m halfway through the Odyssey, and I’ve just passed the chapter on Circe. After reading Madeline Miller’s Circe, it’s interesting to see the small chapter dedicated to the witch. It has definitely made me appreciate Miller’s beautiful adaptation.
I chose this translation of the Odyssey by Emily Wilson because it’s recommended as a clear, modern and fresh translation, and also because it’s the first translation of the Odyssey by a woman.
I read a review in the Guardian by Charlotte Higgins, which detailed the intricacies in which meaning can be changed through translation, and the effect that can have on perceptions of a text.
The example given is a speech by Helen of Sparta, who says:
“the day the Greeks marched off to Troy, their minds/fixated on the war and violence./ They made my face the cause that hounded them.” Higgins writes:
“This last line is translated by Fagles as “shameless whore that I was”, and by Stephen Mitchell as “bitch that I was”. The Greek is kunopis, a rare word literally meaning dog-face, or dog-eye. There are few contexts in which to see this word in use, but it is applied by Euripides to the Furies, terrifying creatures that “hound” murderers. It does not carry, argues Wilson, the overtones of female sexual destructiveness that are often applied in its translation. And so another small but significant transformation is effected.” Have you ever read the Odyssey or the Iliad? What are your opinions on translated texts?
It’s September, anniversary month of my departure from the womb, and as summer winds up it’s perhaps a fitting time to reassess some goals for the rest of the year. 2019 is rapidly disappearing before us, so, for the sake of accountability, here are some of my big goals:
⠀⠀ • firstly to finish the second draft of my fantasy WIP, Starrlings, (which - plug - is already up on my Wattpad for your viewing pleasure, and almost at 100,000 reads, so get your eyeballs around it, link in bio etc) • secondly to READ FIFTY BOOKS which is escaping from me; I’m at 27 which means I’m 6 behind (thank you Goodreads for doing math for me)
⠀⠀ • thirdly to write at least half of a lil teen high school novel I’m working on, which is a slight foray into the unknown for me because I’m actually attempting to write in an American (NYC) high school setting, because I thought that might be fun? But I will always spell it “colour”, sorry. • fourthly, and naturally, I have some big travel plans for 2020, and *shock* I may actually venture further than Europe. Of course I’ll swing by the Sunburnt Country, so aussie m8s, keep an eye out for this mug round town! But I have a bunch of planning to do, which is a v fun goal to tick off
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anyhoo let’s check in + be accountable… what are your goals for the rest of 2019? we only have 118 days left before we are officially in the roaring 20s and I will call everyone Old Sport unreservedly
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📸 this snap is by @julianimkephotography and was taken way back in winter, when the end of 2019 seemed impossibly far away
Where you’ll find me.
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I purchased Madeline Miller’s “Circe” in London, started reading it on the way back to Germany, took it with me to read on the beach in Croatia, and at last finished it yesterday in Berlin. I was almost hesitant to finish it because of how much I was enjoying it, and I wanted it to keep going. I’ve now started Margaret Atwood’s “Penelopiad” to continue my very own Greek odyssey. 🦁🐺🦁🐺
Does anyone else get obsessed with a certain theme or genre (such as Greek mythology) and search out other novels with the same style or theme? If you have any further recommendations of Greek mythology-inspired books, I’m open!
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