Toby, we seem to be on parallel journeys in this regard. I, too, finally waded into The Iliad for the first time this year - also via audiobook. I opted for the new Emily Wilson translation, which read a bit like the 2006 Gerard Butler film '300', I think. No complaints on my end :)
Guessing our motivations were a bit different here, though – mine being a tad less noble. Having been given my first university English department post, I thought to myself, "If my students found out that I hadn't read (fill-in-the-blank), how embarrassed would I be?"
What would make your current list? Any classics out there (aside from The Aeneid) hanging over you?
(Side note - replacing the likes of The National or Vampire Weekend or The Pixies in my earbuds at the gym for The Aeneid or Paradise Lost or Canterbury Tales has greatly accelerated my ability to dive into the classics... but it should be noted that 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' does NOT help one crank out that extra bench press rep in quite the same way...)
Thanks for this. Very interesting to hear. With my friends, I used to play that game 'Shame' - where you confessed your biggest cultural gaps. An English professor I knew, with PhD, generally won when he said he'd never read 'Hamlet'. My biggest gap, I think, is Don Quixote. But also, of the classic classics, I haven't really read Ovid's Metamorphoses. Only bits.
Toby, we seem to be on parallel journeys in this regard. I, too, finally waded into The Iliad for the first time this year - also via audiobook. I opted for the new Emily Wilson translation, which read a bit like the 2006 Gerard Butler film '300', I think. No complaints on my end :)
Guessing our motivations were a bit different here, though – mine being a tad less noble. Having been given my first university English department post, I thought to myself, "If my students found out that I hadn't read (fill-in-the-blank), how embarrassed would I be?"
What would make your current list? Any classics out there (aside from The Aeneid) hanging over you?
(Side note - replacing the likes of The National or Vampire Weekend or The Pixies in my earbuds at the gym for The Aeneid or Paradise Lost or Canterbury Tales has greatly accelerated my ability to dive into the classics... but it should be noted that 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' does NOT help one crank out that extra bench press rep in quite the same way...)
Thanks for this. Very interesting to hear. With my friends, I used to play that game 'Shame' - where you confessed your biggest cultural gaps. An English professor I knew, with PhD, generally won when he said he'd never read 'Hamlet'. My biggest gap, I think, is Don Quixote. But also, of the classic classics, I haven't really read Ovid's Metamorphoses. Only bits.
I can only hope this is a drinking game.