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cahnFrom selenak. Ted Hughes doing a poetic translation of Ovid. This was an interesting read and I'm really glad to have read it. I was familiar with most of the stories (though there were a couple that were new to me) from D'Aulaire and Edith Hamilton and so on, but it's been a while since I have thought much at all about Greek/Roman mythology.
I was struck, on reading these, how differently the people/gods in these stories think about what is right or what is fair. Might seems to make right, and there is often something of a lack of judgment, or at least certainly authorial commentary, of those who engage in what we'd call harassment or abuse or assault. For example, Peleus rapes Thetis -- now that was a story that got left out of my kid-friendly D'Aulaire! -- at Zeus's command, so that the prophecy of "son greater than his father" is neutralized, with no one registered as protesting all that much, including Thetis herself. Though at the same time there is always the knowledge that if someone more powerful or more cunning decides to take revenge (e.g. Apollo and Artemis taking revenge on Niobe), then, well, sucks to be you, even if what they do is not at all proportional to what you did.
For a couple of them I went back to look at the original Ovid. It was striking to me how closely Hughes followed the original, while still using evocative language that was his own.
selenak has an excellent post on this book, which I highly recommend, where she quotes various bits, including one comparing translations and also including a couple of quotes where Hughes tantalizingly adds a bit to Ovid.
selenak. Ted Hughes doing a poetic translation of Ovid. This was an interesting read and I'm really glad to have read it. I was familiar with most of the stories (though there were a couple that were new to me) from D'Aulaire and Edith Hamilton and so on, but it's been a while since I have thought much at all about Greek/Roman mythology.I was struck, on reading these, how differently the people/gods in these stories think about what is right or what is fair. Might seems to make right, and there is often something of a lack of judgment, or at least certainly authorial commentary, of those who engage in what we'd call harassment or abuse or assault. For example, Peleus rapes Thetis -- now that was a story that got left out of my kid-friendly D'Aulaire! -- at Zeus's command, so that the prophecy of "son greater than his father" is neutralized, with no one registered as protesting all that much, including Thetis herself. Though at the same time there is always the knowledge that if someone more powerful or more cunning decides to take revenge (e.g. Apollo and Artemis taking revenge on Niobe), then, well, sucks to be you, even if what they do is not at all proportional to what you did.
For a couple of them I went back to look at the original Ovid. It was striking to me how closely Hughes followed the original, while still using evocative language that was his own.
selenak has an excellent post on this book, which I highly recommend, where she quotes various bits, including one comparing translations and also including a couple of quotes where Hughes tantalizingly adds a bit to Ovid.
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Date: 2024-03-24 01:48 pm (UTC)Anyway, I'm glad the book spoke to you. It's still one of my favourite poetical translations all around.
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