Always wanting to improve my knowledge of such things, next month I'm taking a romantic literature course, dealing with themes of star crossed lovers and repressed sexual desire. I have read quite a bit of the material already, but there are a couple of texts I need some help with.
The Iliad by Homer Metamorphoses by Ovid.
These are a bit daunting, as they're not anything I have any knowledge of at all. Can anyone recommend a really good translation of these, preferably annotated?
Thanks...I'm really excited about this course, btw.
Goodness me ! Right I'll do the Iliad first. The translation by E V Rieu is the one those, who didn't do Greek, used at my old school, reason enough to hate it.It's readable enough though decades old. There's a version by Fagles in Penguin classics which is readable. By far the best of the modern translations,especially for those who like Greek (because the translator gets the Greek idioms so well and the result is very close to the Greek original) is the one by Latimore published by Chicago University Press.It fairly sings along.It seems to be the one that Peter Jones, an amusing, scholarly classicist who has succeeded in making Classics interesting to non-classicists, recommends in his comparative study of translations. Note: Chapman's Homer ['On first looking into Chapman's Homer', and all that] is still in print, is fine poetry in its own right and is of interest for that, but not an easy read Worth trying once you know the story.
As with all books, the only easy test is to get several books off the shelf and pick a few pages at random to see whether you like the writing.
Best? The Penguin Classics 'Metamorphoses: A new verse translation" by Raeburn (Not the 'Penguin Classics' one by Golding, which is a C16 translation !]
Metamorphoses is one of the few works which I thought entertaining in the original language, which must say something (probably that the Latin isn't very difficult !) It contains a lot of good tales, one of them being a version of the Noah and the Flood myth.
There may be prose translations, but I bet they're not as good as a good verse one.
What is it now? I have to do something with my spare time you know. Besides, the professor was very attractive. Thank you very much for all your effort, Fred. I'll get the Latimore and the Raeburn. Found both tonight on Amazon.
'Goodness me'? Such stamina! It was your reference to the course being about 'repressed sexual desire' that caught my eye.First time I read the Iliad I'd have been 14 and on the look- out for any sexual desire, repressed or otherwise, in a text which consists almost entirely of men fighting, and with every phrase in every speech repeated umpteen times. If it's sexual desire you're after, repressed or not, Catullus (very strong on the repressed bit) would be a better bet, and Ovid wrote 'The Art of Love', Ars Amatoria, which is a bit racier than Metamorphoses ! Ars Amatoria,has helpful hints, for example,a famous section on how to seduce a girl at the horse races (it must have worked then and there for him. It might not work on a wet afternoon at Newmarket, but still).Read on!
In my ignorance, I haven't read the Metamorphoses by Ovid, but I do remember studying the Iliad at school (in Enhlish, not Greek) and I too found little repressed sexual desire in it; from what I can remember at least. We also studied the Aeneid for "O" level (by Virgil) as a set book in the original Latin and there's a bit of repressed sexuality in that, I suppose. Good luck with your course though, dg. Pleased to see Fred recalling the names of the translators, so often an ignored species and unjustly so for the best of them. Comparing for example the differing English translations of Dante's Divine Comedy by, say, Henry W. Longfellow and Dorothy L. Sayers is a genuine delight and I much recommend it. And there's a bit of sexuality in the content there too - at least in the Inferno.
Posts: 1152 | Location: Paris | Registered: 04-28-03
Originally posted by Colin, Paris, France: but I do remember studying the Iliad at school (in Enhlish, not Greek) and I too found little repressed sexual desire in it; from what I can remember at least.
Thank you for your comments Colin. OK, here's what I have. There are several themes to the course. Among them are, star-crossed lovers, repressed sexual desire, forbidden love, taboo romance, and mutually assured destruction through love. I'm assuming that each of these themes will be illustrated by particular texts. For example I can already see the last one will be covered by Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter.' Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' would probably contain several different themes. As to the Homer and Ovid, I don't have any idea. So, I just need to read them and have a general understanding of them.
Originally posted by FredPuli: On the other hand, Colin, if there is repressed sexual desire in the Iliad, dg is just the person to find it for us
I'll do my very best. Anyway, all those men fighting, indicates to me the possibility of some sort of underlying homo-erotic desire...sort of like in Women in Love. Is there any naked wrestling in the Iliad?
Originally posted by dg: Is there any naked wrestling in the Iliad?
Yes, but the men kept their socks on [according to my British translation]. Why do you think the Iliad was required reading at our Public Schools but Ars Amatoria was not?
Just got home on my break from work, and there, between the screen and main doors, were Homer and Ovid, waiting for me. Fred, you never mentioned they were so %^%$#$%$ big!
Originally posted by dg: Just got home on my break from work, and there, between the screen and main doors, were Homer and Ovid, waiting for me. Fred, you never mentioned they were so %^%$#$%$ big!
Look, I had eight solid years of it. I don't see why I should be the only one to suffer ! And, as a bonus, out of curiosity, I've just been looking at both translations. Well, they're not unreadable and they are good but unfortunately Homer is still Homer. Ovid is as good as ever.
PS Ovid is Publius Ovidius Naso. Can't help but think of him as Publius the egg-shaped, long-nosed, one !That may cheer you, too
If it's sexual desire you're after, repressed or not, Catullus (very strong on the repressed bit) would be a better bet, and Ovid wrote 'The Art of Love', Ars Amatoria, which is a bit racier than Metamorphoses ! Ars Amatoria,has helpful hints, for example,a famous section on how to seduce a girl at the horse races (it must have worked then and there for him. It might not work on a wet afternoon at Newmarket, but still).Read on!
