Synopses & Reviews
Long a master of the crafts of Homeric translation and of rhapsodic performance, Stanley Lombardo now turns to the quintessential epic of Roman antiquity, a work with deep roots in the Homeric tradition. With characteristic virtuosity, he delivers a rendering of the Aeneid as compelling as his groundbreaking translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey, yet one that--like the Aeneid itself--conveys a unique epic sensibility and a haunting artistry all its own.
W. R. Johnson's Introduction makes an ideal companion to the translation, offering brilliant insight into the legend of Aeneas; the contrasting roles of the gods, fate, and fortune in Homeric versus Virgilian epic; the character of Aeneas as both wanderer and warrior; Aeneas' relationship to both his enemy Turnus and his lover Dido; the theme of doomed youths in the epic; and Virgil's relationship to the brutal history of Rome that he memorializes in his poem.
A map, a Glossary of Names, a Translator's Preface, and Suggestions for Further Reading are also included.
Review
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
Review
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
Review
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
Review
“Johnsons reinterpretation challenges many strong and common beliefs, not only about the Aeneid but about life itself. Indeed, although the book deserves careful study for its readings of passages alone, it is no mere literary analysis, and herein lies its nobility.”
Review
“This book remains as fresh and as challenging as when it first appeared. If I had to pick one single book as the book to tell young scholars to read on Vergils Aeneid, it would still be this one.”
Review
“Darkness Visible will always be one of the great works of Vergil criticism, and ancient literary criticism more generally.”
Review
“The strength of this book lies . . . less in its wrestlings with multiple allegory than in the fresh emphasis it places on Virgils esemplastic power (to borrow Coleridges fine word). The analyses of key passages from the Aeneid and from Greek epic (Homer and Apollonius) invite us to look more closely not only at the language, prosody, etc., but also at such matters as narrative distancing and the way the Latin poet identifies with his reader or enters into the mind of his characters. . . . It is good to find a professional scholar prepared to go all out to proclaim the power of ‘his Virgils tragic and divided vision.”
Review
“Here is a new reading of the Aeneid to suit the temper of the times. . . . Johnson writes for an age disillusioned with empire and no longer buttressed by any comforting philosophical certainties. . . . I find much in this book to admire. Johnson is a sophisticated and sensitive reader of Virgil and some of his discussions of individual passages, almost always set against their Greek analogues, are of a very high order.”
Review
“A challenging book by a clever and ingenious interpreter of Virgil.”
Review
“Splendidly provocative.”
Synopsis
One of the best books ever written on one of humanitys greatest epics, W. R. Johnsons classic study of Vergils
Aeneid challenges centuries of received wisdom. Johnson rejects the political and historical reading of the epic as a record of the glorious prehistory of Rome and instead foregrounds Vergils enigmatic style and questioning of the heroic myths.
With an approach to the text that is both grounded in scholarship and intensely personal, and in a style both rhetorically elegant and passionate, Johnson offers readings of specific passages that are nuanced and suggestive as he focuses on the somber and nourishing fictions” in Vergils poem. A timeless work of scholarship, Darkness Visible will enthrall classicists as well as students and scholars of the history of criticismspecifically the way in which politics influence modern readings of the classicsand of poetry and literature.
Synopsis
W. R. Johnson confronts the inherent (and much commented upon) melancholy of Vergils poem, and gives us an interpretation as brilliant and as it is original. He questions accepted readings that emphasize Vergils faith in empire. Instead, he points to Vergils multiple allegories, his lyrical and enigmatic style, and the ways in which Vergil teaches us about darkness. Using close readings and comparisons to Homer, Johnson reveals how wise and moving the Aeneid can be. No poet,” he writes, not Dante himself, has imagined the disintegration of justice and truth with such precision and power, and for this reason no poet, not Homer himself, has shown how precious and how fragile are the formation and equilibrium of mans integrity of spirit.”
About the Author
Stanley Lombardo is Professor of Classics, University of Kansas. His previous translations include Homer's Iliad (1997, Hackett) and Odyssey (2000, Hackett), Hesiod's Works and Days and Theogony (1993, Hackett), and Sappho, Poems and Fragments (2002, Hackett), a PEN Center USA 2003 Literary Award Finalist.
W. R. Johnson is Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature, Emeritus, University of Chicago. His previously published works include Darkness Visible: A Study of Vergil's Aeneid (1976, University of California Press), Horace and the Dialectic of Freedom (1993, Cornell University Press), The Idea of Lyric (1982, University of California Press), Lucretius and the Modern World (2000, Duckworth), and Momentary Monsters: Lucan and His Heroes (1987, Cornell University Press).