The Aeneid (Penguin Classics)

This review is not a review of the story of Aeneas, but rather a review of Robert Fagles's translation of the Aeneid. Fagles's work in this translation is readable, accessible, and over-all well executed. The Penguin Classics version of Fagles's translation is a great book to hold in your hand. The book FEELS good. Also, the book has some extras that make it essential. First, Barnard Knox has written an excellent introduction to the text. He explains Virgil's cultural and literary context, and he discusses the Aeneid's relationship to its Homeric predecessors. Highly recommended reading. Second, the book has a helpful map of Aeneas's wanderings which helps orient the reader. Third, in the back of the book is a pronunciation guide and glossary. Some of these names are a bit strange, so it's a good idea to refer to the back sometimes for some help. Every character and place in the book, no matter how minor, is explained in the glossary. In addition to all these benefits, this translation of the text is quite good. Fagles has produced a verse translation, which preserves the poetic nature of the original. If you're looking for a prose version of the Aeneid, then this book might not be for you (but I'd suggest you give the verse a try). The other verse translation that I would recommend is Robert Fitzgerald's ( The Aeneid ). Both translations are very good, and I believe that some passages in Fitzgerald's are better than Fagles's, and vice versa. However, the Fitzgerald translation does not contain the same helpful extras that I mentioned above. Penguin Classics provides superb auxiliary materials in all their volumes. The following are the opening lines of both Fitzgerald and Fagles to provide an example of their stylistic differences. Fagles: Wars and a man I sing--an exile driven on by Fate, // he was the first to flee the coast of Troy, // destined to reach Lavinian shores and Italian soil, // yet many blows he took on land and sea from the gods above-- // thanks to cruel Juno's relentless rage-- Fitzgerald: I sing of warfare and a man at war // From the sea-coast of Troy in early days // He came to Italy by destiny, // To our Lavinian western shore, // A fugitive, this captain, buffeted // Cruelly on land as on the sea // By blows from powers of the air--behind them // Baleful Juno in her sleepless rage.

A work for the ages. In a word: Magnificent. I don't like to read translations because I know that so much is lost from the original language. As a poet and writer, I know how important the play of language is, its rhythms, a word's several meanings. But when it comes to The Classics, I have to set that issue aside and try to find the "best" translation I can find. I also realize that people in antiquity read aloud, even when alone. This was such a common practice, in fact, that Augustine remarked in his Confessions (c. 398) how surprised he was when he found a friend in his room reading to himself, silently. So, when I learned of Robert Fagles translation of Virgil's The Aeneid, I got excited. The NYT wrote of it: "Fagles always aimed to produce translations for reading aloud, and for his translations to be fully savored you have to take them in by the ear." I downloaded Fagles' The Aeneid as an audiobook and started listening. But I soon found myself getting "lost" while listening. Maybe it was me as a modern reader (not a listener), maybe it was the flow of words. The language seemed so rich that it felt like I was hitting a wall of sound and words. The story was there somewhere but I had a hard time following it. So, I bought a paperback copy of the book, too. Then I listened and followed the text as well. What a delightful experience! I could follow along the text and listen, and I have to say, it was incredible. Now that I've finished this Fagles translation, I just might try his Homer. I've already read Pope's translation of both The Illiad and The Odyssey. But now I feel encouraged to try listening to both. I did not understand what was meant by "epic poetry" until I read those two works. Now, with Virgil's The Aeneid, my trifecta is complete. If you've hesitated about The Classics, don't. Jump in here with Fagles' The Aeneid. And to feel the joy of the language that Virgil wanted his audience to experience, give it a listen, too. It just might open a whole new world for you, as the poet meant it to be.

After a generation of civil war, Octavian consolidated power and took the new title, "Augustus, son of a god" (referring to the newly deified Julius Caesar, his posthumously adoptive father). Augustus needed to unify the various Roman peoples and embarked on a program to give the people a common heritage. He commissioned Vergil, the greatest poet of his age, to write a Roman epic rivaling Homer that would also glorify the Julian family, validate their claim to be descended from Venus, and put across the idea that Augustus was destined to rule Rome. So basically The Aeneid is official government propaganda. As anyone who has studied propaganda knows, the language of propaganda is cliché. And The Aeneid abounds with clichés. Of course, Vergil was working at a huge disadvantage and died before The Aeneid was completely finished, but even so, I'm afraid that Vergil is no Homer. He wrote in a different language and lived in a different culture. He also had a different motive for writing. And that is the problem with this translation. Fagles is a great translator of Homer and I like his work on Sophocles, too, but I think he's a bad fit for Vergil. His muscular sensibility feels like a bull in a china shop. But if you're just reading for basic information, Fagles is acceptable. Even though I think most of The Aeneid is a bore, I also think The Aeneid is a major literary touchstone of Western culture. Its influence on English literature is inestimable. Shakespeare may have had "little Latin," but the little Latin he possessed obviously included Vergil. For that reason Vergil is a must-read for serious students of English literature. Three and a half stars rounded up to four.

A fine translation for anyone challenged by the text as part of their Latin studies in school but also a beautifully lyrical translation, consistent with Fagles' Iliad and Odyssey. Can't wait to read Seamus Heaney's book VI

Wanted the book in the original format and not damaged. This is disappointing.

Com relação a obra de Virgílio em língua inglesa, gosto notadamente das traduções de Robert Fitzgerald e Allem Mandelbaum. Virgílio pode ser considerado o poeta do pesadelo: a sua versão da deusa Juno – um monstro – é a mais incisiva representação literária do medo universal masculino com relação à força da mulher. Juno pode ser considerada a Musa do épico, pois a ira e o ressentimento da deusa empurram o poema como marcha fúnebre, rumo à destruição fulgurante. Na “Eneida”, o amor é uma espécie de suicídio. Dido, a figura mais cativante do épico, mata-se antes de suportar a humilhação de ser abandonada pelo puritano e carola Enéas, mais parecido com o protetor de Virgílio, o Imperador Augusto, do que com Aquiles ou Ulisses. Virgílio foi em vários aspectos discípulo do grande poeta epicurista Lucrécio (ver resenha). “Eneida” é um poema infinitamente paradoxal, pois, de certo modo, o herói épico, protagonista, é baseado em Otávio César, o Imperador Augusto (sobrinho e herdeiro de Júlio César), que derrotou António e Cleópatra e, indiscutivelmente, fundou o Império Romano. Tudo o que Virgílio encontra no épico é sofrimento, sofrimento sem fim. Enéas é o herói do poema, mas não de Virgílio, divergência que torna o épico ainda interessante, pois inserir o herói errado no poema certo é antecipar a arte de Shakespeare. O gênio de Virgílio está, em parte, contido na extraordinária capacidade de expressão do poeta e em sua fantástica sensibilidade ao sofrimento. Tais qualidade compensam a relativa fraqueza de Virgílio, no aspecto em que, geralmente, o gênio manifesta toda a sua potência: a originalidade. Na primeira metade da “Eneida”, Virgílio dedica-se a imitar a “Odisséia”, na segunda, a “Ilíada”. Quando o leitor pensar em “Eneida”, após ter lido o épico, lembrar-se-á da humilhação de Dido, abandonada por Enéas, o cafajeste virtuoso, insuportável em pobreza. Como o incolor Enéas provocou tamanha paixão? Temos a sensação que Dido encontrou o homem errado. Quem não desejaria que Dido tivesse atirado uma lança em Enéas? Enfim, um dos principais atributos estéticos da “Eneida” é o avanço constante da ação. A discrepância entre a inexorabilidade da narrativa e o sofrimento implícito do poeta constitui um traço extremamente original da “Eneida”, raro até mesma na literatura criativa. Boa leitura!

I DID NOT ORDER THIS BOOK, I HAVE TRIED UNSUCCESSFULLY TO CANCEL, PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME ANY KINDLE ITEMS I DO NIOT USE IT ,PLEASE CANCEL THIS ORDER THANK YOU

I have a number of other versions of The Aeneid but this is the first that I've felt which can read out aloud in order to enjoy it's sonorous music. Wonderful.