The Iliad / The Odyssey - Homer

[IronParrot]

Finally! After having read abridgments, simplifications and paraphrases of the tales in these works since I was about five, I got the full translation!

And I also noticed that there's no thread about it here... so I thought I'd start one...

[bmilder]

Well we had to read what I assume was a simplification of it in school, and I found it incredibly dull and boring. LotR is one of the few books from about 50 years ago or earlier than I don't find boring :p

[IronParrot]

Hey wait, does that mean you found the Oz books boring?

[bmilder]

No, I liked those. But I find most "classics" to be tedious. (Dickens, Twain, etc.)

[juntel]

What about Shakespeare... I think we have a shakespeare fan among us, don't remember his name...

[arynetrek]

we have several shakespeare fans - i think Elanor & Hernalt are, & i bet we have more.

there's this attitude around most "classics" that presents them as old & stuffy, & implies that they should be read not for enjoyment but "because all educated people must read this book." the only "classics" i've really enjoyed are those that i picked up & read on my own, or were presented to the class as "just another book" & not as a "classic".

aryne *

[emilsson]

I read the Iliad when I was 12 years old and I liked it.

arynetrek, I agree with you completely. I read a lot of classics just because I want to and I enjoy them very much.

[gatito]

Haven't read the Iliad or the Odyssey (Those are on my want to read lists though) I read summaries of both in Edith Hamiliton's Mythology Book though. :) As for Classics I love them and the Literature section is usually where I look for books to buy. Right now I am reading Crime and Punishment. I haven't really gotten into it yet but I am only 60 pages along. :)

[bmilder]

Yeah, I think everyone knows the stories contained in the Odyssey, but I just didn't like the thick, dull, way in which the stories were presented in the actual Odyssey :p

I found Shakespeare to be unbearably boring also, except when it was "translated from English into English" ;)

Makes me feel a little stupid, since common people a long time ago understood it, but I'm one of the best readers in my school so I guess it represents a downward trend in readers :(

[emilsson]

I like reading old English. I think it is very beautiful though it took some time to get into. The same was true when I read the Iliad.

After reading Shakespeare during my second year in high school I thought he was very boring. It took Star Wars discussions on the JC and a few Kenneth Branagh (sp? ) films to get me interested in reading his works again.

[bmilder]

That's impressive, emilsson, especially considering you're Swedish :)

I guess what it comes down to is in this age where I can get information instantly over the Internet or by watching television, books that take a long time to get interesting just aren't worth most people's time. A lot of my friends couldn't even get into The Hobbit, let alone LotR :(

[arynetrek]

the first Shakespeare i read was Midsummer Night's Dream, & i loved it. so now i expect shakespeare to be good, or at least worth reading.

aryne *

[jedi master princess]

i personally don't think the common people back in the bard's time understood what the actors were saying....who goes around speaking like that?? :) correct me if i'm wrong, but i think that the people who attended shakespeare's play were not as highly educated as he was...they were mostly poor to middle class people out to have a fun time for a couple hours. hence, the dramatic content in the plots and the numerous "funny" scenes in his plays.

::we now return you to our regularly scheduled topic::

i cannot stand the odyssey. i've read all versions of it, prose and poetry, abridged and unabridged, and i have come to the conclusion that odyseus is a pig. i dunno how he got out of not being turned into one. :) i like the aenied better.

[Fat middle]

Though Shakespeare vocabulary is the largest you can find in English literature, i donñt think we can say that his plays were in a too "cult language".

i´ll say more: if now we may find it difficult to understand is mostly because he often introduced vulgar terms. The rest is not that difficult... :)

BTW, Shakespeare link in my sig ;)

hmmm, and i agree about Odissey: too boring (save perhaps if you can read Greek). But i´m often tempted to read the Aeneid :)

[Grand Admiral Reese]

I haven't read either the Iliad or the Odessey yet. I do know that I missed out on reading the Oddessey in ninth grade simply because the class I was in was the only one not to read it, though. Add those to the books I want to read but haven't gotten to it yet.

[dunedain lady]

I read the Odyssey in school and loved it! And I had a veeery boooring teacher, too! I especially liked the scenes where they had the gods talking in that high, noble speech. I love Shakespeare for the same reason. Elizabethan English is so beautiful, even if you have to read the same passage several times to understand it. I was in A Midsummer Night's Dream as the voice of Titania, and that was one of my favorite productions.

[inSANaTEE Ordrin]

Both the Illiad and the Odyssey are great stories. To read them all the way through in one sitting can be a bit much, but I enjoyed it at the time. Now, how many of you have read other classics, such as Herman Wouk's War and Remembrance? Great book with a great intro with War and Peace. Awesome. But back to the Illiad and the Odyssey, I think that is what brought me to my great love of Greek Mythology. They have some really interesting stories in there that are pretty good to read.