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/lit/ - Literature

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5731143 No.5731143 [Reply] [Original]

What must I read before reading reading this?

>> No.5731185

>>5731143
Nothing, you can read this straight away. It might help to have a general familiarity of who the gods are but it's definitely an accessible work.

>inb4 start with the greeks

>> No.5731202

>>5731185
Could I just Google the stories of Gods I don't know?

>> No.5731215

>>5731202
yeah

>> No.5731224

Edith Hamilton's Mythology

You don't have to read it, but if you want to be familiar with all the gods and stuff.

>> No.5731253

>>5731143
Hesiod's Theogony

>> No.5731267

>>5731202
Yea just wikipedia that shit as you go.

>> No.5731269

>>5731253
Oxford or Penguin translation?

>> No.5731291

>>5731269
This I'd like to know too. I haven't got either

>> No.5731293

Don't read the Penguin Classics edition- it is a poor translation and was terribly typeset. Find one with the Mandelbaum translation.

>> No.5731342

Anyone know the difference between the billion versions of Edith Hamilton's Mythology? Is it all just different covers?

>> No.5731346

>>5731342
they're all the same and they're all equally dreadful to read

>> No.5731352
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5731352

>>5731346
Is it awful? I was just going off this.

>> No.5731378

>>5731352
yeah, that's a pretty bad guide - as in written by someone whose knowledge extends to just beyond what he includes there.

and the obligatory
>fagles and roche translations

>> No.5731386

>>5731378
Where the fuck do I actually start then? There is so much contradictory information out there. No one agrees.

>> No.5731397

>>5731386
the Homeric epics are obviously the best place to start

>> No.5731399

>>5731397
Then which translations?

>> No.5731402

>>5731143
i can't into it.

help

>> No.5731404

>>5731399
inb4
>not learning Ancient Greek

>> No.5731421

Read the Homeric epics and The Aeneid. Ovid plays around with how Virgil depicts Aeneas' mission. You might also read some of Ovid's earlier work, as The Metamorphoses is considered his magnum opus. The other stuff is a lot lighter and more lubricious, but it provides an interesting setup to his epic poem. An awareness of Greek lyric poetry, Roman history, and classical myth will also help you.

But honestly, don't get too worried about what you have to read before The Metamorphoses. I would say the only really essential things are the stuff I noted in my first sentence. I didn't read the version in OP's picture (I used Charles Martin), but almost any translated edition that you will get will have some introduction and information that will contextualize the poem in Roman literature and history and in Ovid's career and tell you why it is exemplary. If you want any info on the myths, then wikipedia has pretty decent summaries of most of them and how Ovid departs.

Good luck, OP. The Metamorphoses is really great. It makes me sad that I can't read it in its original language.

>> No.5732033

>>5731143
If you have a basic familiarity with the classical mythology in general, and Homeric epics and the Aeneid in particular you will at worst occasionally need to look up a name on Wikipedia.

Ovid sometimes uses obscure poetic turns, like referring to Helen as "Tyndaris" but most translators will insert something more straightforward.

>> No.5732037

>>5731143
Homer

>> No.5732040

>>5732037
and Virgil

after read Dante and Milton then you can go wherever you like.

have a Bible close at hand for the latter two

>> No.5732062

>>5732033
>Ovid sometimes uses obscure poetic turns, like referring to Helen as "Tyndaris" but most translators will insert something more straightforward.

what shitty translations are you talking of

>> No.5732069

Yo which is the preferable version of Meander's plays? Oxford or Penguin?

>> No.5732073

>>5731143
Everything must change, everything will change. This is the whole point of the book. Each story revolves around the theme of impermanence, hence the title Metamorphosis. Quite frankly the metamorphosis ranks up there with the illiad and the odyssey. The Aeneid sucked ass in comparison.

>> No.5732271

>>5731269
Lattimore you pleb.

Why the fuck would you just default to either of those two publishing companies?

>> No.5732299
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5732299

>>5732073
>The Aeneid sucked ass in comparison.

>> No.5732530
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5732530

>>5732073
>The Aeneid sucked ass in comparison.

kek

plebeius inscitus es

>> No.5732632

>>5731342
>>5731346
>>5731352
How about this http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241952743/ ?

>> No.5732645

>>5731291
>>5731269
Google "Works and Days and Theogony (Hackett Classics)". Works and Days is worth reading.

>> No.5734094

>>5732645
lol, are you the autist who spams Lombardo in every Homer thread? fuck off with that weak bullshit.

>> No.5734096

>>5732530
>>5732299
He's right though. The Aeneid was gay Homer fanfic. Probably reads better in Latin, but still.

>> No.5734101

>>5731202
or you could just fucking read them right there in the book that you're reading that's a bunch of stories of the gods

>> No.5734121

omg

Odyssey - fitzgerald
Iliad - lattimore
Aeneid - mandelbaum
Ovid - mandelbaum

Edith hamilton's mythology is fine. Also robert graves's the greek myths and bulfinch's mythology.

>> No.5734152

>>5734121
http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Ovid-transformed-4891

Mandelbaum BTFO. I read the Charles Martin translation. It can be gimicky and Martin makes some errors, but it is pretty decent.

>> No.5734162

>>5734152
charles martin uses vulgarisms and slang. btfo.

>> No.5734169

Has anyone read Golding's translation of The Metamorphoses? I have it as a PDF but I haven't gotten around to it.

>> No.5734188
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5734188

>>5732645
>Works and Days and Theogony (Hackett Classics)
:)

>> No.5734294

>>5731399
People will disagree with me, but Fitzgerald's translation is the way to go.

>> No.5734521

>>5734294
Why Fitzgerald?