George Chapman: Homer's Odyssey

Edited by Gordon Kendal

Tudor and Stuart Translations 21

Modern Humanities Research Association

16 September 2016  •  516pp

ISBN: 978-1-781881-21-7 (hardback)  •  RRP £44.99, $61.99, €53.99

ISBN: 978-1-781881-22-4 (paperback)  •  RRP £24.99, $34.99, €29.99

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EnglishTranslation


For George Chapman (1559-1634) his translation of Homer was ‘the work that I was born to do’. The publication of his Iliad and Odyssey together in 1616 was a landmark in English literature, but until now there has been no edition which modernises his spelling and punctuation and also provides detailed help in grasping his often obscure language, and in understanding how and why he translated Homer in the particular way he did.

This edition of the Odyssey, a companion to Robert Miola’s edition of the Iliad, aims to bring Chapman’s rendering alive for the modern reader. Its literary, philosophical, and religious context is explained in an Introduction and in footnotes, and side- and end-glosses clarify Chapman’s English. His Odyssey is not only a stylistic masterpiece of seventeenth-century English: it constitutes a profound and moving interpretation – still relevant after four hundred years – of Homer’s story of the suffering and grace implicit in the human condition.

Through its teeming diversity of events, settings, and characters Homer and his first English translator explore the question of what it means to be human in a complex and threatening world.

Gordon Kendal, a former Chaplain and Research Fellow in Philosophy at Lincoln College, Oxford, was until recently an Honorary Research Fellow in English at St Andrews. He has edited Gavin Douglas’s middle Scots translation (1513) of Virgil’s Aeneid for MHRA Tudor & Stuart Translations.

Reviews:

  • ‘Kendal states that Chapman sought “to bring Homer’s translucence within the reader’s grasp” (29) and this edition (recently joined by an edition of Chapman’s Iliad, ed. Robert Miola) does something similar for Chapman’s work, endowing a multifaceted, challenging, and important early modern poem with a new level of accessibility.’ — Katherine Heavey, Renaissance Quarterly 71.1, 2018, 224-25
  • ‘George Chapman’s Homer’s Odyssey, edited by Gordon Kendal, performs an inestimable service by giving students and scholars an easily readable text of Chapman’s landmark 1616 translation of the Odyssey, with modernized spelling and punctuation and a helpful marginal glossary as well as a very fine introductory essay that places Chapman’s achievement in its literary and cultural context.’ — Lowell Gallagher, Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 58.1, Winter 2018, 219-77
  • ‘The MHRA edition vastly improves our ability to appreciate Chapman’s Homer as English poetry. The new edition presents a far more accessible text of Chapman’s Homer than any previous edition... The new MHRA editions undoubtedly surpass previous editions for classroom use. They make it practical, perhaps for the first time, to incorporate Chapman into courses on Jacobean poetry, on classical reception and the history of translation, on the materiality of the early modern book.’ — Sarah Van der Laan, Spenser Review 48.2.15, Spring-Summer 2018
  • ‘A clear, inexpensive critical edition of Chapman's Odyssey is a welcome addition to the Modern Humanities Research Association's series, as it puts into print a work of significant influence on and reflective of early modern literature and culture... The text itself is extensively footnoted and well glossed, giving the novice reader of early modern English a solid guide to the more difficult elements of vocabulary and allusion without interfering unduly with a smooth reading of the poem.’ — Natalie Grinnell, Sixteenth Century Journal 49.3, 2018, 884-85
  • ‘We should certainly be grateful for Kendal’s careful, learned, and illuminating scholarship, which guides us through the twists and turns of the translated text to a fuller understanding and enjoyment of Chapman’s English Odyssey.’ — Marie-Alice Belle, Renaissance and Reformation 41.2, Spring 2018, 164-66
  • ‘For the significantly improved access to Chapman’s Homer and for the rich collection of pointers in the footnotes, both of these volumes are worthy additions to the MHRA series. Miola and Kendal also allow their affection for Chapman to energize their editions, which provides the reader with some extra motivation to tackle these challenging texts.’ — Sheldon Brammall, Translation and Literature 27, 2018, 223–31
  • ‘This recent addition to the MHRA’s ‘Tudor & Stuart Translations’ series is quite simply a joy to read... one of the great achievements of this volume is that it accomplishes the difficult task of both guiding the novice (perhaps student) reader through Chapman’s complex undertaking and offering researchers an excellent platform on which to conduct their own studies... Catering so broadly to the needs of a diverse readership, the volume is much to be commended.’ — Andrew Hiscock, Modern Language Review 113.4, October 2018, 855-56 (full text online)

Contents:

i-vi

Front Matter
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.1

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vii-vii

Table of Contents
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.2

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viii-viii

General Editors’ Foreword
Andrew Hadfield, Neil Rhodes
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.3

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ix-x

Acknowledgements
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.4

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1-36

Introduction
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.5

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37-37

Further Reading
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.6

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38-38

Abbreviations
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.7

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39-44

Chapman’s Dedication
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.8

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45-45

Certain Ancient Greek Epigrams Translated
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.9

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46-62

BOOK ONE
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.10

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63-77

BOOK TWO
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.11

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78-93

BOOK THREE
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.12

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94-119

BOOK FOUR
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.13

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120-135

BOOK FIVE
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.14

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136-148

BOOK SIX
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.15

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149-160

BOOK SEVEN
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.16

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161-179

BOOK EIGHT
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.17

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180-197

BOOK NINE
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.18

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198-214

BOOK TEN
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.19

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215-234

BOOK ELEVEN
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.20

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235-249

BOOK TWELVE
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.21

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250-265

Book Thirteen
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.22

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266-283

Book Fourteen
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.23

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284-301

Book Fifteen
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.24

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302-316

Book Sixteen
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.25

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317-335

Book Seventeen
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.26

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336-349

Book Eighteen
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.27

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350-369

Book Nineteen
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.28

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370-383

BOOK TWENTY
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.29

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384-397

BOOK TWENTY-ONE
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.30

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398-412

BOOK TWENTY-TWO
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.31

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413-425

BOOK TWENTY-THREE
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.32

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426-442

BOOK TWENTY-FOUR
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.33

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443-444

Concluding Verses
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.34

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445-448

Neologisms
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.35

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449-491

Glossary
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.36

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492-496

Bibliography
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.37

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497-506

INDEX
Gordon Kendal
doi:10.2307/j.ctt1g0b82z.38

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Bibliography entry:

Kendal, Gordon (ed.), George Chapman: Homer's Odyssey, Tudor and Stuart Translations, 21 (MHRA, 2016)

First footnote reference: 35 George Chapman: Homer's Odyssey, ed. by Gordon Kendal, Tudor and Stuart Translations, 21 (MHRA, 2016), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Kendal, p. 47.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

Bibliography entry:

Kendal, Gordon (ed.). 2016. George Chapman: Homer's Odyssey, Tudor and Stuart Translations, 21 (MHRA)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Kendal 2016: 21).

Example footnote reference: 35 Kendal 2016: 21.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)


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