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/lit/ - Literature

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6431160 No.6431160 [Reply] [Original]

When it comes to translators of Greek and Roman works, who is someone supposed to look for? What about specific publishers?

I have Ovid and Catullus and Sappho still on my to-read list, among others, but there's a number of translators out there and they all have varying reviews.

>> No.6431367

Bump.

Also, I'm interested in annotated versions of Homer's work. Are there any good ones out there?

>> No.6431993

Bamp

>> No.6432063
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6432063

We always see threads asking about the best Homer translations, but what about Ovid?

How about Lucretius' De Rerum Natura?

>>6431367
How about pictured?

>> No.6432076

>>6432063
Looks like a good annotated version.

That said, I still need advice on good translators of Ovid/Sappho/Catullus/Aeschylus and the like

>> No.6432883

Gonna bump before I sleep

>> No.6432939

https://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/homer/homertranslations.htm
Good ones are: Fitzgerald, Merrill, Lattimore, Fagles, and some others.

>> No.6432992

>>6431160
>who is someone supposed to look for?

Cheap: OUP
Middle: Hackett, Cambridge
Supermax: Loeb, allegedly

>>6432939
These folks. Fagles did Aeschylus, was great.

>> No.6433028

best homer translation is murray, all other versions are inferior

really though the best thing to do is compare all the versions available and see which one you like best. i tried the fitzgerald and fagles and lattimore but none of them resonated with me like the murray. your mileage may vary

>> No.6433493

>>6432939
>>6432992
I remember reading Fagles Iliad and Odyssey last semester..

I don't think he has an Ovid translation, however.

>> No.6434940

One final time

>> No.6435127

Oxford World's Classics are always reliable and come with good introductions and other patrish support

>> No.6435154

>>6435127
>Oxford World's Classics
Cover-wise, they look pretty good too

>> No.6435179

I am currently reading the Oxford edition of Metamorphoses. I like it.

>> No.6435695

>>6435179
I've seen a few complaints about it. Not many, of course, but the Amazon page has one or two. What do you think about it?

>> No.6435721

>>6434940
>>6434940

Ovid - Golding
Aeschylus - Lattimore/Grene collection.

>> No.6435749

>>6435721
>The Golding one is from 1567

Whoa

It seems to still be very well regarded, though.

>> No.6435799
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6435799

Is Penguin's Stallings translation better than this Slavitt?

>> No.6436528

>>6435799
I haven't heard, but I've seen a lot of people kind of complain about some Penguin translations in general.

>> No.6437583
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6437583

>>6432939
The Lattimore "Odyssey" has a good cover.

I can't find a better size, though

>> No.6437614

Ovid has actually fared quite well in translation, probably because he's been so consistently popular.

Raeburn's translation reads well, is pretty accurate (as you'd expect from Penguin), and has decent endnotes. Melville's Oxford World's Classics version has better endnotes, but the translation is a bit dull. You might say 'workmanlike'. It might be the most accurate available. The OWC books are designed for students and are great for what they are.

For a good read, I recommend Rolfe Humphries or Horace Gregory. Gregory is a classic in its own right now, for good reason. The guy had a good ear. People really like Martin, but he has some embarrassing moments. He renders the daughters of Pierus as rappers, for example. But he is great elsewhere. Mandelbaum is overrated wank. The only 'free' translation I can outright advise against.

Arthur Golding's translation is still in print and is worth having for the same reasons the KJV is worth having. Golding is clearly full of himself and it's not that accurate, but it was what Shakespeare was reading, so...

The Loeb Classical Library was an incredible achievement. I don't have their Metamorphoses, but it will read like a poem translated studiously by a well-dressed scholar during the War. That stuff was standard issue at Oxford for most of the 20th century. I tend to only use them for really obscure stuff no-one else touched.

The best prose version is Simpson, which also has epic endnotes.

Ovid translations are a little like Lungfish albums. There's a lot of really good ones (in fact, most of them are good), and it's really hard for me to choose a favourite. You'd be unlucky to choose one that isn't at least decent.

Unlike Catullus. Please don't ask me to recommend a Catullus translation.

>> No.6437618

>>6437583
That's horrible.

>> No.6438613

For Ovid and Latin Elegy in general, Guy Lee is perhaps the best. His translation is the Amores is essentially Ovid in English, which is actually higher praise than it might sound. He truly does a good job of recreating his wit and rhythm for us modern folk.

>> No.6438628

>>6437583
Let us know when you post it.

>> No.6438631

>>6437618
Not the best, but it's better than some.

>>6437614
Very informative, thanks.

But I do need you to recommend a Catullus translation.

>> No.6440035

>>6438628
I like the way it looks.