I recently inherited +70 Roman/Greek texts, including Ovid's Metamorphoses. Although the text is dense, it is incredibly engaging. Thank you for this incredibly thorough video as I begin reading the Classics!

@ramblingraconteur1616

Жыл бұрын

I hope you enjoy your reading in the Roman and Greek classics. Ovid is one of my favorites! Cheers, Jack

This was fascinating! I read The Metamorphoses last year (Humphries I think was the translator) and it was truly magnificent writing. But I thought he used his amazing language to manipulate the reader into really entering into the violent dysfunction. He just leaned so much into for example what Narcissus was feeling. I thought he was twisting what virtue was, wanting to win us over to sympathizing with vice. Oh my gosh the horrible wedding slaughter which was obviously a reference to Odysseus fighting the suiters. Except Odysseus was justified. All the sexual violence and lust told in such an emotionally heightened way was fascinating but made my stomach churn. So I could appreciate his genius but he also seemed pretty disgusting to me.

The Metamorphoses never gets boring. I'm on Book 13 right now and it's just so engaging. I'm reading two parallel translations: the main one being the translation done by Dryden and his mates in heroic couplets and David Raeburn's modern translation as a reference.

@ramblingraconteur1616

Жыл бұрын

The Metamorphoses are just astonishing. Ovid's sense of architecture for the poems with the connections and themes that exist between each short or long narrative are just fascinating and make it a permanently engaging work. How are you enjoying the Dryden and Co. translation? Cheers, Jack

@kidus5431

Жыл бұрын

@@ramblingraconteur1616 Exactly! How he weaves one story into the next effortlessly is amazing. Dryden and Co's translation was really great and I'd say it was my favourite of the two, though it takes a while to get used to the language of the day. One thing that might irk some people is that they take liberties at times for the sake of metre and rhyme. Here's an example, it's Ovid's epilogue where he proclaims he'll forever live in fame: The Work is finish'd, which nor dreads the Rage Of Tempests, Fire, or War, or wasting Age: Come, soon or late, Death's undetermined Day, This mortal Being only can decay; My nobler Part, my Fame, shall reach the Skies, And to late Times with blooming Honours rise: Whatever th' unbounded Roman Power obeys, All Climes, and Nations shall record my Praise: If 'tis allow'd to Poets to divine, One half of round Eternity is mine. The basic idea is there and the couplets are beautiful but you'll easily notice that it isn't a literal translation. This was a great video and thanks for taking the time to reply, Jack.

@ramblingraconteur1616

Жыл бұрын

@@kidus5431 thanks for sharing that sample. I’ve never read that translation (though I read Dryden and the team’s translation of Plutarch’s Lives), so I may have to check it out if I can find it. Hope you have a great start to this week!

This is a terrific and thorough discussion. It's been awhile but I enjoyed The Metamorphosis, I'd like to return to it later this year. And thank you for the parallel recommendations. Best regards,

@ramblingraconteur1616

4 жыл бұрын

Mayberry Bookclub Thank you! I think that next year I want to return to it and focus on each book to dig deeper with some of the myth, history, and poetry. There is so much to the work, and I know that I will enjoy spending more time with it. Hope you well! -Jack

I have Metamorphoses but I haven't read it yet, great review!

@ramblingraconteur1616

4 жыл бұрын

Raised to Walk Thank you!

Great review. This is one of my favorite books and definitely a top 5 classic from Greece/Rome. I gave a little cheer when you talked about the Aeneid. It's so dull after book 6! But Ovid is never dull. Have you considered reading or already read Diane Middlebrook's short biography of Ovid? It technically only covers his early life, but it has some beautiful commentary on his works.

@ramblingraconteur1616

4 жыл бұрын

Totally Pretentious I had never heard of that biography, although his life is fascinating, so I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the biographical details in the Penguin Classics introductions. Thanks for the recommendation!

@steve5123456789

2 жыл бұрын

Glad I wasn't alone thinking that with the Aeneid.

we have this as our syllabus for english literature major in India..its great

@ramblingraconteur1616

3 жыл бұрын

So glad to hear you’re enjoying it! I hope you have a great weekend. Best, Jack

I love the Metamorphoses, but I found David Reaburn’s translation too clunky. I much prefer A.D. Melville’s verse translation and Mary Innes’ prose translation, which was actually the first translation I read in high school.

@ramblingraconteur1616

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the heads up on that translation. I will definitely have to explore it. I hope you are having a great weekend! Best, Jack