Do we need yet another Iliad after Robert Fagles's wonderful 1998 translation? Well, according to Fagles, every generation should have its own translation of classics. After 10 years of "war on terror", the Trojan war of 21th century, yes, it's about time.
Stephen Mitchell is not a scholarly translator like Fagles. (He translated Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching" without knowing much Chinese.) He uses a 5-beat meter (no more Dactylic Hexameter), removes the fixed epithets (the grey eyed Athena), and omitted many patronymics (Achilles, son of Peleus). The result is a very fast moving Iliad. Many of the combat scenes, now read like John Woo's signature slow motion shots (which I didn't notice when I read Fagle's translation). Like Mitchell's other translations, it is not loyal to the original but is quite enjoyable.
I made a mental note to read Fritzgerald's Odyssey and Fagles's Aeneid later. (Both has languished on my bookshelf for a long time.) Most of the stuff I read lately are pretty boring stuff (technology, layman psychology, self help, how-to type of books). This type of reading is "safe", but it doesn't push boundary. I sometimes think I should have a year of reading dangerously: a year of reading novels (David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas" comes to mind), a year of reading poetry (Hello, Miss Bishop), a year of reading comics (they are wonderful), a year of reading classics (I always want to finish Dante). Like everything in life, maybe the time is now.
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