I Do, In Fact, Catch Myself Yearning For Lost Works Quite A Few Times (always)

(Spoilers and long yaps ahead)

I just finished rereading TSoA for the 3rd time to refresh my memory and bc apparently there's some sort of unwritten rule that I have to read it every other year (lol), so here are some of my thoughts/impressions...

- I really liked the way MM describes feelings and especially places and atmospheres, very detailed and immersive

- Overall, there were some kind of inaccuracies and stuff that sounded a bit weird-worded to me here and there (maybe it's bc I've read a translation but idk), but nothing too serious. Also I had forgotten about the humor, some bits were hilarious

- I LOVED the first part from the beginning up until they're called back from mount Pelion, better than I remembered

- (Also Chiron saying he'll wait for them to come back I was like wait it's not time for crying yet stop)

- You guys weren't joking abt the feet thing omg, I had totally forgotten about it. Like, 30 pages in and I've already heard about Achilles' feet at least 20 times, it wasn't annoying just mildly amusing to me lol

- I get that Thetis has to be overprotective, even unwilling to mingle with mortals, but I wasn't a big fan in general of her being represented as some kind of cold and indifferent "sea witch", or as the antagonist, even though she redeems at the end. At least at the end I managed to feel sorry even for her

- Pat's mom was barely there as a character (since we basically know nothing abt her from the myths) but...her portrayal felt deeply touching to me?

- It kinda bugged me at first that Achilles here is older than Pat, but that's just a detail

- every single scene between the boys felt so inherently sweet and intimate, absolutely loved it

- Pat is supposed to be an unreliable narrator, and that's fine, we get why. But at times, his thoughts get so unnecessarily self-deprecating, and I was like? my boy I get that it's not your fault you feel that way, but you're worth more than that omg? But it kinda makes sense within the story, you can immediately sympathize with him, you genuinely feel what he feels, so I didn't really mind it

- The whole Skyros part was...kinda there? I felt like it somehow broke the immersion for me. The whole thing was so rushed it was hilarious, like, Pat randomly arrives to the king's palace, and then the sequence after that basically goes

"Hello, stranger, I'm your very seducing princess. Wanna see me and my girls dance?"

"Wait, Achilles, you're one of the girls??"

"Pyrrha, what does this mean??"

"Shut up, he's my husband!"

"Wtf no, you're my husband!"

"You useless mortals..."

"Mom, I'm tired, make it stop!"

"But I'm pregnant!!"

"Wtf??"

"Wait, let me explain!"

Like...yeah.

- I think Deidameia has more to her character other than being "the annoying asshole used by Thetis to distract Achilles", like...idk, her relationship with "Pyrrha" could have been explored further other than the "my mom forced me" thing...also yeah, not a fan of what she did to Pat, it felt like an unnecessary addition. I understand that MM had to make significant changes to this part of the myth especially to make it fit in her story, but still...

- My poor, sweet Iphigenia. Again, kinda rushed, but her part read like the terrible tragedy it is. I have nothing else to say.

- Achilles at Troy. We need to talk about him even tho there would be way too much to say. He's still so young and innocent and perfect and beautiful, but with such a heavy burden on his shoulders? And at the same time he wants to be the best bc that's what he was born for, he craves honor, glory and recognition? Like, everyone wants him to be hero, a killer, but my boy was left paralyzed for days after witnessing his first ever death with his own eyes, after which he needed to be comforted and caressed? The way he's fully aware of the fact that his time is so short lived? The way he's so godlike, he literally exudes divinity, yet so incredibly and painfully human? Bye

- The damn FORESHADOWING all the time after they sail to Troy once every ten lines basically. "What has Hector ever done to me" and similar, I mean. Like, I couldn't afford to cry before the end of the book

- I still don't know what to think about Pat being all soft and vulnerable and pacifist in the middle of the war. Like, yes, it makes me want to hug him. He's lovely and lovable, of course. But idk, it's almost as if something didn't feel quite right with it

- Kinda same for Briseis. She's such a beautiful and interesting character, even tho MM's interpretation of her story, especially her relationship with our two mains, differs quite a lot from the original. The dynamics didn't feel to me as rushed or unnecessary as they were in the Skyros part, though

- The whole feel of camaraderie was quite tangible, it felt almost real. As if you were there, knowing each one of them in person, especially the Achaeans ofc (plus Odysseus and Diomedes' banter was awesome. They've truly got some great lines)

- I wasn't too convinced by the interpretation that Achilles felt absolutely nothing, if not just pity, towards Briseis, with Pat being the only one loving her, but again it makes sense within the story as it's told

- Everything after Pat dies felt...rushed, way less explored. Even tho it's the part where most of the important stuff happens (Achilles' death, most notably.)

- which absolutely needs to be talked about. 'He's chasing after himself... He's just a mortal, not a god. Hit him and he'll die... When he fell, he had a smile on his lips'. BYE I have nothing else to say.

- The contrast between young Achilles being utterly horrified by the slaughter of an innocent girl as a sacrifice, and Pyrrhus doing the exact same thing and claiming to be doing it in his father's honor........

- Last but not least, the ending between Thetis and Patroclus' spirit always hits hard...I haven't cried the first two times I've read it, but this time I sobbed like a baby

Like... I've always had sort of mixed feelings abt this book for different reasons. But it has always held a special place in my mind and heart, mainly because both the romance and the war/death part are so heart-wrenching and so well mixed together. And it will surely keep doing so. Now please make me feel less alone and cry along with me😭

"Next time, don't let your guard down because of a pair of big goo-goo eyes!"

(my childhood comfort movie <3)

Kazeki's characters aesthetic ✨

You're next on my to-draw list, diva 🫠😩

oh lordy

Classics: What is Lost in Translation

There's a lot of discourse on the faithfulness of retellings, but today I want to talk about the sources themselves. A lot of us engage with the classics in languages that are far from the ones that they were originally written in, and to do so we must do so through translations.

Translators are incredibly skilled people. When it comes to Greco-Roman works, most of them are Classicists who have dedicated their lives to the study of these. But, we should remember that no translation is perfect, by virtue of being translated. What does this mean? It is very rare, even in languages that are related to one another (think Romance languages, like Spanish, French, and Italian) for a word to have a direct translation that carries over every meaning and connotation of the original. This means that while there may be an apt word to take the place of the original, certain meanings can be lost in translation, especially when translating literature, where the choice of word in itself is an artform that can convey much more meaning than what's evident (wordplay, implications, rhyme, etc.). A translation should convey all of the original meaning of the work being translated, but what is the best way to do this? Is it through coming as close as possible to word-for-word faithfulness as we can, or by taking some liberties in favour of trying to expressing what the original author conveyed? This is a question that has been a topic of debate for as long as translations have existed, and people are divided on the answer still. Personally, I stand at a middle ground: faithfulness to the text is important, but oftentimes, it can result in us missing a lot of meaning, so a degree of liberties taken is acceptable if it does result in conveying that meaning. Let's also keep in mind that translations can become dated overtime! Language evolves as time passes, and with it, the meaning of words changes. Such being the case, what conveyed a certain meaning to someone a century ago may no longer do so for the modern reader. This also why translation from an older form of a language to its modern one may result in a loss too. Are all translations bad, then? Not at all! If you want to engage with a piece of literature that isn't in your language, you can and you should! The classics are classics for a reason, and I personally believe that everyone should know these works because they're wonderful and there's so many incredible translations of them out there! So, mainly, I just want people to be aware that not everything that we see in a translation may be entirely faithful to the source; we may never know exactly every single thing of what Homer intended to convey, because we're not his original audience, engaging with his work at the time that it was written, and in the language that it was written. Some translations come much closer than others and are praised as much more faithful, and you can find a ton of discussions online where the virtues and faults of one translation vs another are compared. I would love for people to be encouraged to look into different translations of works that they enjoy, because it's fascinating to see the differences in choices made by one translation and another. Translation is an art in its own accord, it takes incredible skill, and when reading a translation we're not just engaging with the work of the original author, but with the interpretation of a certain translator — viewing the classics through their eyes.

Well, time to ramble about the Iliad again even tho no one asked, yay! This time it's about language: there's one specific expression which I'm kind of obsessed with, and it's φίλη κεφαλή (phìle kephalè).

So, phìle is the feminine form of the adjective phìlos (the word where philtatos comes from), which obviously means "dear", "beloved": but by extension, in the Homeric language especially, it means "something that belongs to someone". Which actually makes sense because it's basically implied that if something belongs to someone, it has to be something dear to them. And this is mostly used with body parts (like, instead of saying "my hands", in Homer you'd find something along "the dear hands" and so on.)

And that's where kephalè comes in! The word literally means "head". In the poem there's a lot of talking about heads: chopped heads, disfigured heads, pierced heads, and so on. But many times, metaphorically, it can also mean "body" or "life". Why? Because, since the head is the most important part of one's body, it is the essential part in order to live. And of course it's "dear" to you, because otherwise you'd be dead.

So what happens if you put the two words together? You basically get an affectionate form of address, which could be translated to "my dear head", but most precisely "my dear life".

In the Iliad, when Achilles learns of Patroclus' death, he states to have loved him "like his own head" (kephalè is the word he uses), and right after, he refers to Hector as the man who killed his phìle kephalè...

Because the head is to the body what Patroclus is to Achilles: the most important and precious part of himself. And now that he's lost him, he feels as if Hector had killed a whole part of himself, the one that kept him alive. Because his head has been literally torn away from him.

Also in another passage he refers to Patroclus as ηθείη κεφαλή (hethèie kephalè), where hethèie basically means "sweet", "beloved", "worthy of honor". And once again the "head".

I'll stop rambling for now, but this stuff was just too beautiful not to be talked about?? (and for me not to hyperfixate over it)

Why was I writing at Christmas early morning instead of sleeping

It's a perfect sonnet.

14 lines. 3 stanzas in ABAB rhyme, and a rhyming couplet at the end.

It starts off with each of them speaking a whole stanza. Romeo offering up a self depreciating metaphor (a pilgrim at a holy shrine, sinful for wanting to place a kiss on her hand), and Juliet returning it (it's not a sin for a pilgrim to touch the hands of a saint. Pilgrims and the saints hands can touch. )

Then they share a quatraine, keeping the rhyme and rhythm steady, the flirting turning even more overt. (Saints and pilgrims both have lips, yeah? Well, sure, for prayer. Well if a pilgrims hand can touch a saints hand, then their lips...)

Then they each speak half a couplet (the saints dont make the first move, but if its a prayer....well, here I am, praying....), and share their first kiss.

It's flirty and silly and a little irreverent, and they become more and more in sync as they speak.

This is a heightened, fantastical, almost reality bending moment. This is a moment where two lonely teenagers, one who is having her future decided without her and the other fresh from an unrequited rejection, feel the world shift around them.

And the foreshadowing sits at the end of stanza 3. This is an act of faith, but if it cannot be, it will turn to despair.

And I just. The craft of it. The poetry of it. How the form and the rhythm mirror the metaphor and mirror the emotion of it.

Ancient Roman bust (one of my favorites ever) recolored in 6 different shades by me

Will the world remember you when you fall?

Could it be your death means nothing at all?

(credit/art inspo: this absolutely GORGEOUS animatic that I can't stop thinking about for some reason

https://youtu.be/PBON_pKDtvU?si=_w1z4TWONn5CU0LQ

Also the quote is from les misérables)