O.G. Original Geek.

[realexplodingcat]

You can have your new films based on obscure comics, I don't want 'em. Go ahead, upgrade your computer with the latest sexy hardware and install an operating system nobody but you and that guy in the office basement who smells like Cheetos understands. Take your Arcade Fire 7" and deep-fry it with a cupcake. I just found out that Robert Fagles translated Virgil's "Aeneid." I'm totally cracking that book in November 06 when it drops. OMG retired Princeton professors are so hot! This is almost as cool as the time Michael Palma translated Dante's "Inferno" into English without sacrificing the terza rima back in 03. So fetch! I can't wait 'til November. Until then, I've got Plato's "Republic" to keep me busy. Richard W. Sterling and William C. Scott are blowing my mind with their prose. Nobody can render ancient Greek as crunk as these old Dartmouth professors.

Comments

[phir.livejournal.com]

deep fried arcade fire cupcake? mm...

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

I recommend peanut oil.

[thekdog.livejournal.com]

dude. you scare me.

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

and this is coming from a guy who reads James Joyce for fun.

Ok, so maybe I'm taking this all a little personally...

[krues8dr.livejournal.com]

Judge ye not, lest ye be judged for the r-pop ye be listening to yeself.

Re: Ok, so maybe I'm taking this all a little personally...

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

Don't take it too personally. I am genuinely excited by the new Fagles translation and I intended to poke more fun at myself, since I seem to be such a dinosaur for reading ancient literature these days. I step outside myself and find my interests totally bizarre in the context of current popular culture. Of course, I'll be listening to r-pop while I read the translation.

Re: Ok, so maybe I'm taking this all a little personally...

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

BTW, I have nothing but respect for a man with "The Tale of Genji" on his shelf.

Re: Ok, so maybe I'm taking this all a little personally...

[krues8dr.livejournal.com]

Anecdotally, my wireless router is called Genji.

[briskpepper.livejournal.com]

Michael Palma?

Didn't he interrogate Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct?

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

If he did, he's a man of many talents.

Perhaps he witnessed one of the circles of hell when she uncrossed her legs.

[oceanic.livejournal.com]

Did you ever check out Pinksy's translation of the Inferno (terza rima also sustained)? That's a nice piece of work right there.

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

I hear good things about Pinksy's Inferno. Probably a toss up over which is better, Pinksy or Palma. But I haven't read Pinksy. Between the two, I'll read whoever translates Purgatorio first.

Other ones I have read include Allen Mandelbaum and John Ciardi. Mandelbaum is blank verse and apparently a very accurate translation, but somewhat laborious to read. Ciardi reads easier and isn't bad, but its a half assed rhyme scheme.

[oceanic.livejournal.com]

Sounds like I'll have to read Palma now. Curse you. :)
But yeah, the race is on for Purgatorio-- though I found an 1892 copy at the local library sale (!!) so I'm set for the moment.

I don't think any translation can be truly accurate if it turns a piece that flows in its original language into a stilted, prose-like beast in the translated language. Of course, the hard part is deciding how much text accuracy you're going to sacrifice to that end.

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

I guess it depends on how you define "accurate". Mandelbaum is definitely a prose-like beast, but from what I understand he conveys the intended word-for-word meaning of the text accurately at the expense of an accurate poetic flow. I do blame him for never actually getting very far into reading Purgatorio. I bought his three volume set as my first Dante experience in the early 90s (before the recent deluge of Inferno translations). It is generally agreed that Inferno is the best of Dante's trilogy and most fun to read under any condition, including the dense blank verse of Mandelbaum. Purgatorio was made extra challenging and extra boring by Mandelbaum's translation and I just couldn't get through it.

By the way, this is actually my first introduction to Dante (http://www.darkridethrills.com/page.cfm?pagea=5). I spent many summers on the New Jersey shore, including this pier in Wildwood. I used to stand outside this ride, staring up at it, too terrified to go in but simultaneously attracted to it. The large mural on the front was filled with ghastly depictions of various tortures described in the poem. I hear it has since been repainted and tamed down to an appalling kid-safe level. But I credit this ride with inspiring my interest in Dante's work.

[parhelion-spark.livejournal.com]

Your posts are always so damned funny XD
Informative though, this time. I'm tempted to keep an eye out for that now too.


Unrelated- best t.A.T.u song evar

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

If you ever want to read any ancient Greek in translation, you can do no better than Robert Fagles (although the Aeneid was written in Latin, I think).

This t.A.T.u album is growing on me. I didn't like it at first, but now I do after shuffling it for awhile with other CDs. I like the addition of guitars to their sound.

Am I the only person with both the new Tool album and the latest t.A.T.u in their CD player?

[ismene.livejournal.com]

Tom, stop trying to make "fetch" happen.

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

I'm only trying to make it happen for academic use, specifically for the critical analysis of literature. I intend to start a new critical movement in which we look through the cheap sunglasses of popular culture to glean new insights from ancient texts.

[explodingcat.livejournal.com]

Totally. I haven't even seen the movie. All the credit for putting that in my vocabulary goes to krues8dr.