tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post6019132986671688461..comments2023-10-04T09:50:08.070-05:00Comments on Logismoi: Recurring Names & the Scholarship of Anthony EsolenAaron Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-58104956863643607262009-11-15T22:20:44.347-06:002009-11-15T22:20:44.347-06:00Gabriel> Well that's disappointing! So is E...Gabriel> Well that's disappointing! So is Englert's a prose translation? I'm certainly ready to take your advice, but I have this funny aversion to reading poetry in prose translations. (I did read 'El Cid' that way though!)<br /><br />I should also point out though that this is beginning to sound like a lot of work, which will probably make it less likely that I will actually get around to reading Lucretius! ;-)Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-36636941496223402312009-11-15T18:24:55.737-06:002009-11-15T18:24:55.737-06:00In terms of style, the Esolen Lucretius probably r...In terms of style, the Esolen Lucretius probably ranks at the top; in terms of philosophical clarity (which I think is the only reason to read Lucretius outside of the Latin original), Walter Englert's translation for the Focus Philosophical Library wins hands down. Like Esolen, Englert approaches the text with a sense of wonder, but it's a directed wonder--not against Lucretius the outmoded Epicurean with a faulty cosmology and science of nature, but for a Latin-writing philosopher who intended to make clear the teachings of his master, but with his own nuances. My sense is that Esolen is deaf to this; he reads Lucretius like a Catholic humanist (which he certainly is). In other words, he reads Lucretius not as his fellow Romans would have read him; that is, not as a philosopher. <br /><br />If you ever get the chance, Strauss's "Notes on Lucretius," found in the collection <i>Liberalism Ancient and Modern</i> contains an eye-opening interpretation of the Epicurean. It demands a considerable knowledge of the Lucretian text, but in the end I think it points away from the sort of interpretation/translation Esolen provides.G Sanchezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11797757461858023882noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-45043297567510325362009-11-14T21:06:51.777-06:002009-11-14T21:06:51.777-06:00No, unfortunately I haven't. I'd like to t...No, unfortunately I haven't. I'd like to though! I've got a really old translation of Tasso--I can't even remember the translator's name.Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-37727096251025283612009-11-14T21:03:27.039-06:002009-11-14T21:03:27.039-06:00P.S. - Have you seen his translation of Tasso'...P.S. - Have you seen his translation of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered? That looks really good, too.Xeneteiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13311992929661487537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-52900313418480915752009-11-14T15:04:15.584-06:002009-11-14T15:04:15.584-06:00Ironies of Faith is the only book of Esolen's ...Ironies of Faith is the only book of Esolen's that I own currently (this will probably be short lived - his translation of Lucretius sounds very interesting), but I have enjoyed it so far - he's a wonderful exegete of literature.<br /><br />RebeccaXeneteiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13311992929661487537noreply@blogger.com