Translation/Adaptation: Logue and Oswald Flashcards
Q: What is the “poet’s version” of translation according to Lawrence Venuti?
A: A form where poets adapt a source, sometimes without knowing the language, producing versions that prioritize literary creativity over fidelity.
Q: What defines Alice Oswald’s Memorial?
A: An oral, grief-focused poem listing 213 deaths, using repeated similes, direct audience address, and musical refrains.
Q: What Greek term did Alice Oswald aim to capture in her translation of The Iliad?
A: Enargeia, meaning “bright unbearable reality.”
Q: What is Alice Oswald’s primary focus in her translation of The Iliad?
A: The atmosphere of the poem, not the narrative.
Q: How does Alice Oswald describe her approach to translation?
A: She writes “through” the Greek, focusing on translucence rather than direct translation, and aims to maintain the spirit of oral poetry.
Q: How does Alice Oswald view traditional translations of The Iliad?
A: She feels they focus too much on “nobility” and not enough on the raw reality of the poem.
Q: What is Alice Oswald’s attitude towards the printed text of The Iliad?
A: She believes it should be approached irreverently, adapting the oral nature of the poem to a modern audience.
Q: How does Alice Oswald’s translation differ from other translations of The Iliad?
A: She deliberately omits much of the narrative to focus on fragments that express poem’s essence and atmosphere – focuses on emotional truth, creates performance-based poetry, and introduces modernized biographies.
Q: Did Christopher Logue know Greek when working on War Music?
A: No, he did not know Greek.
Q: What literary influences shaped Logue’s War Music?
A: English epic tradition (Milton, Dryden, Pope), Ezra Pound’s Cantos, cinematic techniques, found poetry.
Q: How did Logue describe his translations of The Iliad?
As “accounts” or “observations,” describing action rather than translating word for word/
Q: What approach did Christopher Logue take in his translation of The Iliad?
A: Logue treated his work as a poem in English, inspired by The Iliad, focusing on atmosphere and performance rather than strict translation.
Q: How does Logue modernise Homer while maintaining “essential fidelity”?
Structural Translation: preserves structure and emotional force of Homer but adapts language and style – uses anachronisms, technology references, and literary influences, blending contemporary elements for intensity and impact.
Q: How does Logue handle difficult parts like the Catalogue of Ships?
A: He removes names, focuses on the army’s materiality, uses Arabic numerals, and embraces deliberate anachronism.
Q: How does listening versus reading change our experience of War Music and Memorial?
A: Listening highlights the works’ oral roots, musicality, emotional resonance, and deepens the connection to ancient traditions.
Patrocleia Plot
Book XVI: Achilles and Patroclus, Patroclus’ exploits, Sarpedon’s death, and Patroclus’ death – updating scenes for modern intensity and clarity.
Q: What challenge did Logue face in translating the hero’s armor and how did he address it?
A: Logue avoided awkward, outdated terms – instead focused on timeless objects (like swords and horses) that modern readers would easily understand.
Q: How did Logue handle the religious elements in The Iliad?
A: Logue replaced specific ancient religious practices with familiar Christian imagery to make the text accessible to modern readers.
Q: How did Logue use narrative techniques to bring out the action in The Iliad?
Sometimes used a consistent eyewitness perspective to expand short battle scenes – similar to how filmmakers transform a novel for a movie.
Q: How did Logue address modern views on war compared to Homer’s portrayal?
A: While Homer’s war is ennobling, Logue adapted the translation to reflect modern, anti-heroic views, emphasizing the waste and brutality of war.
Q: What is the translator’s duty regarding the action and thought of the poem?
A: The translator’s duty to the action (story structure) is absolute, but their duty to the thought (ideas and moral tone) is more flexible and can be adapted to modern contexts.
Q: How did Logue’s translation use modern literary techniques?
A: Logue used sharp juxtapositions of beauty and brutality, a modern literary technique not originally found in Homer, but reflecting the emotional complexity Homer already expressed.
