You surprise and delight, John. Here's a new book I finished and so admire and that I will be writing about soon: Richard Deming's The Exquisite Loneliness. Extraordinary and brilliant. Don't scoop me though ð on my essay. Researching now on how to present this ...
Thank you, Mary! And if you say that something is extraordinary and brilliant, then Iâm sure it is. I look forward to your assessmentâno scooping, I promise! ð
Iâm new here, is this where we talk about what weâre reading? I am going to barge into it, seeking forgiveness rather than permission, since I just finished compiling my September list (a good month). I went on a bit of a binge with satirical academia and it was a lot of fun.
Books:
Disorientation - Elaine Hsieh Chou
Japanese by Spring - Ishmael Reed
The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family - Joshua Cohen
On the subject of melancholy, I read Clancy Martinâs How Not to Kill Yourself a few months ago and recommend it with some caveats regarding the readerâs mindspace.
And on the subject of audiobooks, I read some raves of Emily Wilsonâs new translation of the Iliad and got excited until I realized itâs 761 pages. I must just have read excerpts in high school. Iâm considering starting with her Odyssey translation and think audio might be a good medium, plus I like Claire Danes, who reads it.
Iâm eager to hear more of your encounter with Burton. My experience was like yours, dipping in here and there during grad school for some paper or another, never staying long. But the prospect of your wit wrestling (Plato again??) with Burtonâs profusion sounds like high fun! ð He sounds like a new Substacker figuring out what to write about. Heâd fit right in here. Sarah Fay could have whipped him into shape in a jif.
Ha! I literally just laughed out loud in my office imagining Sarah's one-on-one with Burton: "Umm, first of all, you need to cut out all of this Latin. And your sentences are like three pages long!"
Hi, Ellen, and thanks for subscribing! Yes, this is where we talk about reading, though your question made me think that maybe I should open the chat function and start that thread. I havenât read any of the four on your list (though I have read some Reed), so on my TBR list they go. Emily Wilsonâs Odyssey is superb, and it has become my go-to text for teaching. I havenât yet read her Iliad, though I plan to soon. I had a colleague complain that the language of her Iliad translation is not elevated enough, but that may be because sheâs aiming for students with the new edition of the Norton Anthology of World Literature, in which her translation will appear.
Good question. I donât have any Ancient Greek, but from what I understand, Homeric verse is characterized by an energetic rapidity and momentum. Our most oft-used English translations (Fagels, Lattimore, etc.) tend to use somewhat elevated diction. Original audience is a tough question, and again, Iâm out of my depth. But by the time we get to classical Greece, Homer is recited by professional Rhapsodes to large audiences. The Platonic dialogue Ion is Socratesâs conversation with a Rhapsode.
You surprise and delight, John. Here's a new book I finished and so admire and that I will be writing about soon: Richard Deming's The Exquisite Loneliness. Extraordinary and brilliant. Don't scoop me though ð on my essay. Researching now on how to present this ...
Thank you, Mary! And if you say that something is extraordinary and brilliant, then Iâm sure it is. I look forward to your assessmentâno scooping, I promise! ð
Iâm new here, is this where we talk about what weâre reading? I am going to barge into it, seeking forgiveness rather than permission, since I just finished compiling my September list (a good month). I went on a bit of a binge with satirical academia and it was a lot of fun.
Books:
Disorientation - Elaine Hsieh Chou
Japanese by Spring - Ishmael Reed
The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family - Joshua Cohen
On the subject of melancholy, I read Clancy Martinâs How Not to Kill Yourself a few months ago and recommend it with some caveats regarding the readerâs mindspace.
And on the subject of audiobooks, I read some raves of Emily Wilsonâs new translation of the Iliad and got excited until I realized itâs 761 pages. I must just have read excerpts in high school. Iâm considering starting with her Odyssey translation and think audio might be a good medium, plus I like Claire Danes, who reads it.
Iâm eager to hear more of your encounter with Burton. My experience was like yours, dipping in here and there during grad school for some paper or another, never staying long. But the prospect of your wit wrestling (Plato again??) with Burtonâs profusion sounds like high fun! ð He sounds like a new Substacker figuring out what to write about. Heâd fit right in here. Sarah Fay could have whipped him into shape in a jif.
Ha! I literally just laughed out loud in my office imagining Sarah's one-on-one with Burton: "Umm, first of all, you need to cut out all of this Latin. And your sentences are like three pages long!"
Hi, Ellen, and thanks for subscribing! Yes, this is where we talk about reading, though your question made me think that maybe I should open the chat function and start that thread. I havenât read any of the four on your list (though I have read some Reed), so on my TBR list they go. Emily Wilsonâs Odyssey is superb, and it has become my go-to text for teaching. I havenât yet read her Iliad, though I plan to soon. I had a colleague complain that the language of her Iliad translation is not elevated enough, but that may be because sheâs aiming for students with the new edition of the Norton Anthology of World Literature, in which her translation will appear.
Chat would be a great forum.
Honest question from someone who took a whopping three English classes in college: is Iliad elevated in the original? Who was the audience?
Good question. I donât have any Ancient Greek, but from what I understand, Homeric verse is characterized by an energetic rapidity and momentum. Our most oft-used English translations (Fagels, Lattimore, etc.) tend to use somewhat elevated diction. Original audience is a tough question, and again, Iâm out of my depth. But by the time we get to classical Greece, Homer is recited by professional Rhapsodes to large audiences. The Platonic dialogue Ion is Socratesâs conversation with a Rhapsode.