I’ve recently started reading The Iliad. I find it challenging because characters can be referred to by a variety of different things, even within the same paragraph or two, so it is challenging to follow the conversation or who is being discussed.
I’ve taken to asking ChatGPT to summarize chapters and key characters within the chapter after I’ve finished each chapter and it helps give me feedback as to whether what I thought happened was what indeed happened. It’s also given me little contextual tidbits that are helpful and apparently would have been known to audiences of the time but for me would have gone unappreciated.
It’s helpful, though I think I’d prefer an annotated copy over ChatGPT so I have realtime information as I read without the lag of finishing a chapter first (or added friction of stopping to search and starting again)
Thank you. Putting my thoughts into my comment made me wonder a bit more about the translation I am reading which is Butler’s translation included in the Great Books of Western Culture. It apparently is a somewhat weak translation when compared to modern ones and so I might switch to something modern to see if that helps.
With Homer, which translation you read can make a huge difference for the reading experience. Older translations tend to be far more purple and ornate, while recent translations, like Emily Wilson's, are far more straight forward with a more restrained diction and helpful translation notes and introductions. It's all really a matter of degree, though.
I’ve taken to asking ChatGPT to summarize chapters and key characters within the chapter after I’ve finished each chapter and it helps give me feedback as to whether what I thought happened was what indeed happened. It’s also given me little contextual tidbits that are helpful and apparently would have been known to audiences of the time but for me would have gone unappreciated.
It’s helpful, though I think I’d prefer an annotated copy over ChatGPT so I have realtime information as I read without the lag of finishing a chapter first (or added friction of stopping to search and starting again)