Available Formats
Aeneid
By (Author) Virgil
Translated by Stanley Lombardo
Introduction by W. R. Johnson
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc
15th March 2005
United States
General
Non Fiction
Ancient, classical and medieval texts
870
Paperback
432
Width 140mm, Height 216mm
341g
A classicist best known for his translations of Homer, Sappho, Hesiod, and Callimachus returns to Roman poetry, offering a resonant new Aeneid.
Adapting words of the ancient critic Longinus, [Lombardo] refers to the intense light of noon of the Iliad , the magical glow of the setting sun in the Odyssey , and the chiaroscuro of the Aeneid , a darkness visible. This latter phrase is the title of a famous interpretation of the Aeneid by W. R. Johnson, who contributes a splendid essay to the translation. Whether recited or read, the present volume stands as another fine performance on Lombardo's part. Summing up: Highly recommended. --C. Fantazzi, CHOICE
Lombardo . . . tends to let Virgil be Virgil, and so avoids imposing unwarranted interpretation on the unwary reader. . . . [W.R. Johnson's] introduction is masterful and illuminating. --Hayden Pelliccia, The New York Review of Books
Crisp, idiomatic, and precise, this is a translation for our era. The list of further reading, grounded in the writings of W.R. Johnson (who also wrote the Introduction) and Michael C. J. Putnam, suggests the context that informs the translation: here, as the translator says in the Preface, you will find an Aeneid that works more in the shadows than in the light. . . . This translation would be excellent for classroom use: not only would it incite fascinating discussions about issues of war and empire, but it also reads well aloud. . . . Together with Johnson's Introduction, this volume offers the Aeneid in terms that will resonate strongly with the general reader of today. --Sarah Spence, New England Classical Journal
Stanley Lombardo is Professor of Classics, University of Kansas.