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Title: Greek Lyric Poetry: A New Translation
ISBN: 0393329151
Author:
Publicate Date: 2006-11-20
Publish: 2006-11-20
List Price: $15.95
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $4.62
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $4.00
Amazon Merchant Price: $7.27
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Hauntingly Beautiful
Let me make this clear right from the beginning: I am not a scholar of the ancient Greek language. Although I once considered a minor in Classical Studies and took more than enough classes on Ancient Greek history, culture, religion, and literature to get me most of the way there and to give me sa strong foundation in most things Hellenistic, I never learned the Greek language itself. As such, I am not fit to comment on the matters of the accuracy of the translation. On to the review.
Sherod Santos has complied here an excellent collection of classical Greek poetry stretching from the end of the Archaic period to the first Byzantine dark age (about 700 A.D. or so). While purists may balk at the end date for his collection, it should be noted that only a handful of Byzantine poems are included and that these only refer to classical themes (such as the writer pondering the meaning of an ancient statue or the like). The language and words used by Santos are excellent and truely capture the nuanced beauty and subtle currents of the poets' thoughts and words.
Having said that, I once again doubt this will be a translation for literary purists. The language and choice of words used are fresh, vivid, and truely artistic, thus suggesting a fair amount of (dare I say it?) poetic liscence with the translation. Having read poems and epics which were translated word-for-word, line-by-line and with Biblical precision, it is not surprising that this particular collection comes as a breath of fresh air and helps capture the fact that this is meant to stir emotions and convey the poets' feelings- not dissect their exact words with razor-sharp attention. However, I feel that in a field already oversaturated with translators who feel the need to convey a poets words exactly no matter how dull and dry the end result might be, Santos is able to breath life into the works of men and women who died thousands of years ago and yet whose words still carry the weight of their emotions and humanity well into the present.
Despite the excellence of the translation, the book does contain a number of minor, if at times irritating flaws. These include...
1) At a $25.00 cover price, this is a stiff price for a slender volume.
2) Not every poet listed in the book has any biographical data included, leaving an interested reader to their own devices when it comes to learning more about individual Poets
3) Commentary is provided on a few of the poems, but not on all (or even most). All too often, this leaves the reader touched and moved by a poem, flipping to the back of the book to get more background on a particular poet and his work, only to discover that while the previous and next poems have commentaries, this particular one does not.
4) Purists may not like the liberties Santos takes with the language and translation. While I feel that Santos does an excellent job and does justice to this work of POETRY, serious, academically-minded scholars of ancient Greek might be advised to look elsewhere.
Normally, I'd rate this book a 4.5, which in this case I feel deserves to be rounded up to a 5.
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