Stanley Lombardo strives to bring a classic to the hearts and minds of a modern, disinterested audience, an audience which may regard this epic as a relic of ancient times. As language mutates over time and the meaning of words change, a point is reached at which literature becomes unintelligible except to an elitist educated minority. We see this happening in Shakespeare right now for example. Similarly, translations of Ancient Greek classics from 80 years or more ago now sound 'archaic' in style. Lombardo attempts in his translation to bring the Iliad into an 'ultra-modern' idiom, and he does this with the heart of a poet himself.
His search for the poetic message in the modern idiom comes at some slight cost in translational precision, too much for some purists. However there can be no doubt that Lombardo possesses a profound insight into his subject material and he has chosen his words deliberately and carefully. For those interested in the sound of the original language, Dr Lombardo has, to my mind, his simply wonderful recitation of the first book of the 'Iliad' in Ancient Greek on the internet. When Chryses speaks, one visualises the old man and when Achilles and Agamemnon argue, the emotions sound fully authentic. So too he achieves emotional integrity in this recording. The technical quality is excellent, with clarity throughout.
Although an introduction of some sort is probably mandatory in a recording of this nature, and Susan Sarandon's introduction is fine, I found her preamble to each book of the 'Iliad' quite annoying. These are nothing more than a plot-revealing, in fact plot-diminishing summary of what is about to happen. What point in this when Lombardo's translation rings so lucidly to the modern ear? Perhaps they are placed out of fear of monotony developing in so long a tale. Also the music, which initiates and concludes each Book is unvarying and a little too long at 60 seconds every time. Such are the decisions made by the marketing people these days. I side-stepped annoyance by down-loading only the Lombardo tracks to my mp3 player. (My apologies to Ms Sarandon, whom I admire as a fine actor.)
If you are interested in a modern recording of an ancient classic, then I would recommend this without reservation. After listening to Lombardo, he has won me over and I'm a big fan.
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Homer: The Essential Iliad Books In Print, Audio Books.