From: c stirling bartholomew (cc.constantine@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Wed Jul 11 2001 - 02:27:56 EDT
on 7/10/01 8:59 PM, Richard Ghilardi wrote:
> I first became acquainted with the works of Richmond Lattimore in college
> when I read his translation of some of the Greek lyricists. He is perhaps
> best known for his translation of the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer. Then in
> 1962 he set his hand to translate the NT. It was not completed until
> 1982. I suspect the reason his work on the NT is not well known is partly
> because of the piecemeal fashion in which it was published and partly
> because during this period many new translations were being published in
> English backed up by high-powered marketing efforts. Even in 1982 his NT
> was still being published in two volumes. I think sometime during the
> '80s the whole NT was brought together in one volume... and promptly
> forgotten.
Richard,
If you mean by "and promptly forgotten" that it didn' t put Zondervan at any
risk you are probably right. But I had a friend about a decade ago who would
never have touched the NIV but I gave her a paperback of Lattimore's Gospels
& Revelation which she read with great pleasure. I then managed to find a
copy of his epistles and gave her that as well. She wasn't a member of the
evangelical subculture and she found reading the NIV about like eating stale
Red Snapper.
I used to think Richmond Lattimore's edition of the Iliad was the best there
was but after 13 years of thinking about it and dabbling in Homer now and
then I am not so sure. My favorite edition of the Odyssey is T.E. Lawrence,
but that is more because I am a Lawrence aficionado not because it is a
world class translation. I have read portions of Fagels works in the last
couple of years. Not sure what to say about Fagels.
Anyway, Lattimore certainly was not promptly forgotten in the classics
departments of academia. He may have been forgotten but it wasn't prompt.
There are innumerable copies of his Iliad floating around in the used book
market.
Think I will now go do a line or two of the Iliad before calling it a day.
Clay
--
Clayton Stirling Bartholomew
Three Tree Point
P.O. Box 255 Seahurst WA 98062
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