The Essential Iliad | Wesley Callihan

Dr. Dale Grote, from the Foreword:

“One of the many explanations, perhaps the central explanation, is that Homer was a master storyteller. Great stories, it goes without saying are meant not to be read, so much as they are to be heard. We “Greeked” readers says that the theme of both Homeric epics is the kleos of famous men. Our various translations of kleos get close to its general sense: “glory,” “reputation,” “magnificence,” and so on. What they do not capture, however, is that kleos comes from the verb kluō, which means “to hear.” The deeds of Achilles and Odysseus are what people hear about them, and they hear about them in stories. Vergil, it is said, taught us to read, but Homer taught us to listen. But no one will listen if the storyteller is botching his lines. Only a great storyteller can tell a great story in the right way, even if it is written down.

What Wes brings to his adaption of this old translation of the Iliad is the storyteller’s innumerable skills and intuitions about choosing just the right word, establishing an engaging cadence, rounding off phrases, slowing the pace when it needs to be slow and accelerating it when it needs to be accelerated, enriching the words with drama without overdoing it.”