Synopses & Reviews
This extraordinary new translation of the Aeneid stands alone among modern Vergil translations for its accuracy and poetic appeal. Sarah Ruden, a lyric poet in her own right, is the first woman to translate Vergils great epic, and she renders the poem in the same number of lines as the original worka very rare feat that maintains technical fidelity to the original without diminishing its emotional power.
Rudens translation follows Vergils content faithfully, and the economy and fast pace she achieves are true to his own unflagging narrative force. With its central theme of national destiny versus. the destiny of individuals, the poem has great resonance in our own times, and Ruden adheres closely to the poets message. Her rendering of Vergils words gives immediacy to his struggling faith that history has beauty and purpose in spite of its pain. With this distinguished translation, modern readers can experience for themselves the timeless power of Vergil's masterpiece.
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Praise for Sarah Ruden's translation of the Aeneid
:"Robert Fagles, shortly before his death, set the bar very high for translating the Aeneid. Yet already the scholar-poet Sarah Ruden has soared over the bar. . . . The translation is alive in every part. . . .This is the first translation since Dryden's that can be read as a great English poem in itself."—Garry Wills, New York Review of Books
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'\"Rudens translation separates itself from others by using the same number of verses as Vergil does. She has produced a fresh poetic translation for contemporary English-speaking readers, one that speaks with its own voice.\"David Quint, author of
Cervantess Novel of Modern Times: A New Reading of \"Don Quijote\" -- Garry Wills - New York Review of Books'
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'\"Sarah Rudens translation is distinguished by the quality of its verse, the unrelenting propulsive force of its narrative drive, and the intelligence with which she has shaped Vergil to fit her pentameter lines.\"Charles Martin, translator,
Metamorphoses: A New Translation -- David Quint'
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"Grace and power reside in Sarah Rudens economical line-for-line translation of
The Aeneid. Like Vergils Latin, her English may easily be lifted off the page and given voice."Janet Lembke, translator of Virgils
Georgics -- Charles Martin
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“Toning down the magniloquence, Sarah Ruden gives us an
Aeneid more intimate in tone and soberer in measure than we are used toa gift for which many will be grateful.”J.M. Coetzee
-- Janet Lembke
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"By conveying the emotional force of the Latin, Ruden makes the
Aeneid newly vivid, exciting, and relevant. This translation proves why, for centuries, Virgils remarkable epic has been required reading."Mary Lefkowitz, author of
Greek Gods, Human Lives: What We Can Learn From Myths -- J.M. Coetzee
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"Fast, clean, and clear, sometimes terribly clever, and often strikingly beautiful. . . . For me, hers is the cleanest of modern verse translations."Richard Garner, The New Criterion -- Chris Hedges - Philadelphia Inquirer
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“. . . The translation is alive in every part. . . . [T]he first translation since Drydens that can be read as a great English poem in itself.” Garry Wills, New York Review of Books -- Len Krisak - Translation and Literature, Volume 18
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“. . . Ruden . . . a poet of considerable skill, has chosen boldly. Her work is . . . [a] rarity. . . . I cannot stress strongly enough Rudens skill with near-Swinburnean sound effects . . .” Len Krisak, Translation and Literature, Volume 18 -- Garry Wills - New York Review of Books
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"Fast, clean, and clear, sometimes terribly clever, and often strikingly beautiful. . . . Epigrammatic statements that lose their punch in more diffuse translations are virtually always preserved by Ruden with immense profit to the impact in English. . . . Ruden has found ingenious solutions to echo some of Virgils great sound effectssolutions Ive not seen in other translations, prose or verse. . . . The tone is pitch perfect. Rudens English remains remarkably free from convolution. What is happening, who is speaking, and who is doing what to whom is always clear. For me, hers is the cleanest of modern verse translations. . . . Many human achievements deserve our praise, and this excellent translation is certainly one of them."Richard Garner, The New Criterion -- Mary Lefkowitz
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"An intimate rendering of great emotional force and purity. . . . The immediacy, beauty, and timelessness of the original Latin masterpiece lift off these pages with gem-like originality. . . . Highly recommended. All readers, all levels."Choice -- Richard Garner - The New Criterion
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Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title of 2008. -- Choice
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'Selected as one of the Favorite Books of 2008 on Mr. Wilsons Bookshelf/Books & Culture -- Outstanding Academic Title - Choice'
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"A welcome and interesting addition to the volumes of Virgil scholarship."Chris Hedges, Philadelphia Inquirer -- Mr. Wilson's Bookshelf - Books and Culture
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“… pellucid and propulsive – limpidly austere in its diction and dynamic in its narrative speed … Ruden, not just an esteemed classicist herself, but a poet of considerable skill, has chosen boldly. Her work is that rarity: a line-for-line rendition of Virgils epic in English that declares ten syllables a fit match for the
Aeneids hexameters … [Rudens] diction is almost unfailingly chaste (as Auden described Frosts), and the great clarity and force this lends her translation are evident everywhere … I cannot stress strongly enough Rudens skill with near-Swinburnean sound effects … Ruden has taken the pentameter plunge and gambled that a line-for-line account of Virgils
Aeneid can be made … [She] has won her wager.” - Len Krisak,
Translation and Literature, Volume 18
-- Garry Wills - New York Review of Books
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'\"Rudens version earns special praise for measuring up to the challenge set by Lattimore and Fagles and then going one better in her fidelity to the actual form of the poem, without sacrificing fidelity to the word to any greater extent than they. It deserves to be widely read and admired.\"--Joseph Farrell, Translation and Literature -- Len Krisak - Translation and Literature'
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“This new translation of Apuleius’s novel stands alone for its accuracy and cleverly farcical rendering.”—Bookseller’s Buyer’s Guide
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“A rollicking ride well worth the fare . . . marvelously, sidesplittingly ridiculous. . . . It’s a story, not a homily, and Sarah Ruden has re-bestowed it with artful aplomb.”—Tracy Lee Simmons, National Review Tracy Lee Simons
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“The most immediately entertaining work of Latin literature . . . Ruden gives the reader a rich blend of the colloquial and the elevated . . . [in] a very American translation that captures much of the fun of the original.”—D. Konstan, Choice National Review
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“A cause for celebration on many counts . . . We owe Sarah Ruden a great debt of thanks for [this] English translation that is no less inventive, varied, and surprising than the original.”—G. W. Bowersock, New York Review of Books D. Konstan - Choice
Synopsis
Acclaimed poet and translator Sarah Ruden brilliantly brings Apuleius's comic tale to life
Synopsis
With accuracy, wit, and intelligence, this remarkable new translation of
The Golden Ass breathes new life into Apuleius's classic work. Sarah Ruden, a lyric poet as well as a highly respected translator, skillfully duplicates the verbal high jinks of Apuleius's ever-popular novel. It tells the story of Lucius, a curious and silly young man, who is turned into a donkey when he meddles with witchcraft. Doomed to wander from region to region and mistreated by a series of deplorable owners, Lucius at last is restored to human form with the help of the goddess Isis.
The Golden Ass, the first Latin novel to survive in its entirety, is related to the Second Sophistic, a movement of learned and inventive literature. In a translation that is both the most faithful and the most entertaining to date, Ruden reveals to modern readers the vivid, farcical ingenuity of Apuleius's style.
About the Author
Sarah Ruden is a visiting scholar at Wesleyan University. Her books include a translation of Vergil's Aeneid and Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time.