Hello!
My name is Frank, and I’m 56 years old and doing some eldercare in Tennessee, USA. I have a B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, Annapolis, MD, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland.
I studied “Ancient” Greek, which was taught using a custom textbook tailored to the discussion format that is a St. John’s College selling point for most who give the school a try. The course was more about language in general than achieving fluency.
I’m returning to Greek now, because I want to read Homer. That’s the goal. If I can then go on to learn the subsequent dialects so that I can read Herodotus, or Plato, that would be nice; however, I want to be able to hear the meter and concurrently know the meaning. This will take thousands of hours I may not have, but that’s my goal. I am using the following materials, as of now:
- Pharr, Homeric Greek, Rev. Wright
- homeri opera, vol. 1, Munro, Allen
- Owen and Goodspeed, Homeric Vocabularies
- Cunliffe, Lexicon
- Smyth, Greek Grammar
I was very fortunate to have been forced to learn piano in my youth, so I understand the importance of practice and repetition, but it will be interesting to see how my 56 year-old mind develops this skill. I intend to leverage all the technology I have at my disposal to maximize the results. I’m using a flash card app, with Pharr flash cards that people have already made, and the materials available from Mt. Holyoke College and the Five College Consortium.
Reading Homer is my goal because, in the 28 years since I read the Lattimore Iliad, I’ve never encountered another artistic effort so profoundly moving and overwhelming. As I seemingly race towards my dotage, I’ve decided to restrict my autodidactic efforts to 5 authors, and 5 works on which I want to concentrate my focus :
The Iliad, The Elements of Euclid, Principia Mathematica of Newton, the 1905 Einstein Papers, and Joyce, Ulysses.
Euclid doesn’t require Greek for my purposes, and Newton will have to endure a translation because I’m just not going to learn Latin. I’m leveraging my previous Greek as much as possible. My degree was basically a double Major concentration in Philosophy and History of Mathematics, so I really want to dive into the Geometry of both. Einstein is in German, so again, not a realistic goal. But reading The Iliad is a very real possibility, at least on a functional level.
As a side interest, I study Homeric scholarship. I particularly enjoy the 18th century accounts of Grand Tours that extended to the Homeric stage, and 19th century English efforts, with their learned constructions of “The Poet,” and vitriolic Prefaces contra other “national races” of scholarship. I find the certitude with which they announce their truly astounding philological feats in seven volumes – every one now primarily an historical curiosity – very enjoyable reading. Then there’s “On Translating Homer,” by Matthew Arnold. I found this effort so captivating and entertaining that I revisited all the translations I’ve read, in light of his words. I think he’s wrong about a lot, but I can’t speak because, however many translations of Homer I’ve read, I’ve never read Homer. Every translator says, as originally as possible, that it is impossible to translate Homer. I take them at their word that they have no words. I intend to read Homer, in my head, and do it with as much fluency as I can muster. Thousands of hours of study, this time, without borrowing tuition!
I look forward to spending the weekend exploring the forums here and hope for an opportunity to contribute substantially to this community. Thank you for having me!