[LINK] Iliad cut back for text generation

[Adam Todd]

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/06/1086460175666.html

Iliad cut back for text generation
By Julie Henry in London
June 7, 2004
This literary masterpiece is looking a little battle-scarred. "Sing, 
goddess, of the accursed anger of Achilles, son of Peleus, which brought 
uncounted anguish on the Achaeans," Homer may have written in The Iliad. 
However Microsoft, the computer giant, prefers something less lyrical. "Wot 
hapnd when Agamemnon n Achilles had a barny?" it asks in a new version of 
The Iliad produced to appeal to the text message generation.
Its version has been criticised for trivialising one of the great works of 
European literature.
The "translation" of the first five of the 24 Iliad books condenses 37,000 
words to 32 lines of mobile telephone text message language, with sad and 
smiley faces and love hearts.
In book three, a duel between Paris and Menelaus to determine possession of 
Helen, is reduced to: "Paris went 2 fight Menelaus. But he was wiv fright. 
Hector told im 2 b a man. Shame on him! Helen went 2 watch from da walls."
Book five, where mortals fight the gods in a Homeric narrative rich with 
visual detail and poetic invention, is compressed to: "Aeneas da Trojan 
hero woz hit by Diomedes n Aphrodite went 2 help im. Da Gods withdrew. Ares 
helped da Trojans but Athena helped Diomedes 2 spear im."

The Microsoft version was designed to explain the plot of the film Troy to 
the 6 million people who use the MSN Messenger instant messaging service, 
where it can be found. Trim Troy, the introduction says, allows youngsters 
to brush up on the classics.
Some teachers and traditionalists disagree, however, and have condemned the 
language as "appalling", "simplistic" and an "insult to young people's 
intelligence".
Andrew Cunningham, an English teacher at Charterhouse school in Surrey, 
said: "The whole point of studying great works of literature from any 
language or culture - whether it is The Iliad, Beowulf or the King James 
Bible - is to feel the words resonate over the centuries.
"This rendering of The Iliad into a blunt text message style will inspire 
no one. 'Muse, wot hapnd wiv Achilles?' is a fair example of just how bland 
the style is."
Some teachers argue, however, that text message language is a fact of life 
and makes The Iliad, thought to have been composed in the eighth century 
BC, more accessible to young people.
Geoffrey Fallows, the president of the Joint Association of Classical 
Teachers, said: "The Iliad is a complicated story that has difficult and 
unfamiliar names, so if you know a bit of it through the film or other 
versions, it will make so much more sense. The present generation 
communicates all day and all night in this peculiar speak and that is a 
fact of the modern world."
The Telegraph, London