First Blog Post

Written By J. Simon Harris

I’ll be honest. I may not keep up with this blog. But here we are.

Assuming I actually maintain the blog, I will write about my writing process here. Currently I have three ongoing projects: translating Homer’s Iliad, translating Dante’s Vita Nuova (which is kind of on the back burner for now), and writing a new novel (which I’m not ready to talk about yet). So… for now, at least, I envision blog posts discussing my (slow) progress with the Iliad.

Right now, I’m in the middle of the infamous catalogue of ships in the latter half of Book II. It’s actually more fun than I thought it would be… but very, very tedious. I am keeping a pronunciation glossary (similar to the one in my Inferno translation, and similar to the one in Robert Fagles’ translations of Homer and Virgil), so for all of the names in Book II, I’m having to record pronunciations and locations in the book in the glossary (I’m not doing glossary entries yet, just names, pronunciations, and textual locations).

I’m not good at keeping up with things like blogs, so don’t expect this to be in any way comprehensive or regular. But if I think about it, I’ll post. Until then, go check out my work elsewhere on this site, or go check out my other site, Dante’s Afterlife.

J. Simon Harris

J. Simon Harris is an author and translator living in Raleigh, North Carolina. He moonlights as a scientist (eight hours a day on weekdays). He has published a novel, a translation of Dante’s Inferno, and a translation of Pablo Neruda’s Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. He loves books, videogames, movies… pretty much any form of storytelling. He loves the mountains, the ocean, gardening, walking his dog. But most of all he loves being a dad. He is currently working on a translation of Homer’s Iliad in epic hexameter verse, a second novel, and a translation of Dante’s Vita Nuova (New Life). He also maintains the website Dante’s Afterlife, where you can read historical background on Dante and his times, commentary on Dante’s work, and more.

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