GalleyCat - The First Word On the Book Publishing Industry

NYT Echoes Its Own Aeneid Coverage

robert-fagles.jpgIf Charles McGrath's profile of Robert Fagles (right) in Monday's NYT arts section seems familiar to you, perhaps it's because you remember a 2004 article by Chris Hedges which mines much of the same territory, namely Fagles's work on a new translation of Virgil's Aeneid. The most striking similarity is Fagles's repeated description of the epic poem as "a cautionary tale":

2004: "It is one we need to read today. It speaks of the terrible price of victory in war, for Virgil knew that victory is finally impossible, that it always lies out of reach. He saw the unforeseen aftermath, the way war could all go wrong whether from poor planning or because of the gods on high. He knew the sheer accumulation of death, the destruction, the pain we inflict when we use force to create empire."

2006: "[It's] about the terrible ills that attend empire—its war-making capacity, the loss of blood and treasure both... It's also a tale of exhortation. It says that if you depart from the civilized, then you become a murderer. The price of empire is very steep, but Virgil shows how it is to be earned, if it's to be earned at all. The poem can be read as an exhortation for us to behave ourselveslves, which is a horse of relevance that ought to be ridden."

The two articles even mention the same line of Latin, "forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit," which is the real reason I remembered the original article. Fagles was translating the verse as "a joy it will be one day, perhaps, to remember even this" when he spoke to Hedges, but it's rendered in the McGrath piece as "maybe someday you will rejoice to recall even this." (I still prefer my very loose rendition: "And maybe one day we can look back at all this and laugh." But you'll notice nobody's offering me a book deal to translate Virgil.) A quick email to McGrath reveals that he came up with that version, not Fagles; he also throws in another bit of Latin at the end—"vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras"—which he then translates rather nicely as "his spirit, groaning with indignation, escap[ed] to the shades below."

photo: Laura Pedrick/NYT


new on mediabistro.com

The Future of Social Media with Chris Anderson

The editor of Wired explains how to create a social network that works.
Watch the video

Email This Post

Fill out the following information and click on the Send button in order to send this post, <i>NYT</i> Echoes Its Own <i>Aeneid</i> Coverage, to a friend.
Friend's name
Friend's email address
Your name
Your email address
Note to your friend (optional, max 200 Characters)

Read more on GalleyCat >

The First Word On the Book Publishing Industry
GalleyCat in Your Inbox
Mobile Version
RSS Feed
Our Blog Network

BayNewser

WebNewser

TVNewser

PRNewser

MediaJobsDaily

FishbowlNY

FishbowlDC

FishbowlLA

MobileContentToday

AgencySpy

UnBeige

GalleyCat

GalleyCat Staff

Editor:

Jason Boog

Senior Editor:

Ron Hogan

Correspondent:

Jeff Rivera

Follow GalleyCat

Email GalleyCat

Anonymous Tips
Favorite Posts

heather-thomas-sidebar.jpg Our Chat With Heather Thomas
jack-oconnell-sidebar.jpg The (Long-Awaited) Return of Jack O'Connell
marya-hornbacher-sidebar.jpg Marya Hornbacher: "No Tortured Artists Here"
stean-sagmeister-sidebar.jpg Stefan Sagmeister: "Design for Non-Designers"
 Why Does Maureen Dowd Hate Popular Women?
Topics

About the 'Cat

About Us - Modules

Adaptation

Agents

Authors

Awards

Behind the Deal

Book Fairs

Book Jackets

Book Trailer

Bookselling

Buzz/PR

Celebrities

Comicbookland

Contests

Deals

eBooks

Editors

Feuds

Food & Drink

GC's Hitlist

Jobs

Lecture Circuit

Libraries

Lit Crit

Litterbox

LOLgalleycats

Mailbag

Monday Morning

New & Upcoming

Paper Cuts

Party Hopping

People of Color

Polls

Publishing

Q&A

Readers

Sex, Drugs & Rock n Roll

The Revolving Door

Trends

Undiscovered Writers

Videos

Web & Tech


Links

Book Beast@The Daily Beast

Bookseller.com

Books@Wowowow

Buzz, Balls & Hype

Danuta Kean

E-Reads

Eco-Libris

MarianLibrarian

Publishers Marketplace

Publishers Weekly

Publishing Contrarian

Publishing For Profit

Publishing Insider

Publishing News

Publishing Perspectives

The Publishing Spot

Publishing Trends

PubRants

Rick Frishman

Shelf Awareness

TeleRead

Weekly Publishing Moves

The Write Report

...more...

Archives

November 2009

October 2009

September 2009

August 2009

more...


Job Listings

Featured Listings

Marketing Director
HarperCollins Publishers
New York, NY

Editor/Reporting and Assessment
Scholastic
Watertown, MA

Administrative Assistant to Photo Director
Book/Calendar Publisher
New York, NY

Chief Financial Officer
Cambridge University Press
New York, NY

ADVERTISEMENT


mediabistro.com l Member Benefits l Jobs l Freelance Marketplace l Courses l Events l Forums l Content
mediabistro Blogs: Media News l TVNewser l GalleyCat l UnBeige l FishbowlNY l FishbowlLA l FishbowlDC l PRNewser l AgencySpy
MobileContentToday l WebNewser l BayNewser l MediaJobsDaily l mbToolbox
Site Map l Advertising/Sponsorships l Partners l About Us l Contact Us/Help

internet.commediabistro.comJusttechjobs.comGraphics.com

Search:

WebMediaBrands Corporate Info

Legal Notices, Licensing, Reprints, Permissions, Privacy Policy.
Advertise | Newsletters | Shopping | E-mail Offers