Classics Salon!

[cahn]

So yeah, anyone who has been around this DW for more than a very little while has known that we had a salon in which we discussed Frederick the Great in particular and 18th-century Enlightenment figures in general.

But nooooow we are going to have a Classics salon!

My Classics background is, er, well, I guess my Classics history is pretty much on par with or somewhat worse than my general non-US historical background (read: I know almost nothing, with some random pockets of slight layman knowledge), and my Classics literary background is signficantly worse than my general literary background (no real reason, it's not like I had a vendetta against it or anything, I think I just didn't happen to have a good entry point). I've read the Odyssey last year and the Aeneid reasonably recently, and the Iliad not so reasonably recently (perhaps this will be the impetus for me to check out the Wilson translation), and Ted Hughes' translation of selected Metamorphoses.

Please feel free to tell me what books I really ought to be looking at next! (I believe there has been some discussion of Plutarch?) Feel free to wax eloquent about your favorite translations, whether it's something I've already read or not! Also please free to tell me any of your favorite Classics history you want, because I probably don't know it :)

(This is not supposed to be just for mildred_of_midgard and selenak, although of course I expect them to be prime contributors. I know that many of you, probably all of you, know a lot about Classics that I don't know, so please inform me! Tell me your favorite things! :D )

Comments

Re: Classics salon - fiction

[mildred_of_midgard]

Hah, yes, I thought Reames would be much better for you than Plutarch! (Let's be honest, *I* need scaffolding to read a lot of Plutarch. I've read the Lives at least twice, and retained very little about the figures that I didn't already know about from other sources.)

I did read a Judith Tarr about Alexander once, long ago. Chiefly what I remember about it is that there's an obviously (but not described as such) autistic savant girl/young woman, whom the narrative diagnoses as having no soul, and the "happy" ending is when the soul of a recently deceased Alexander possesses her and goes off in her body to engage in feats of glory as queen of the Amazons, thus finally giving her life meaning.

...Even 25 years ago I could see *some* of how problematic that was.

Mary Renault never worked for me, not in college and not a few years ago, but I'm definitely in a minority. You might like her!

If I find good nonfiction (I haven't read anything in the Reames post, which is why I linked to someone else's post) that I can rec you, I will. Mostly I think the things that have worked really well for me, with my specific tastes and background, probably wouldn't work for a beginner. I'll keep my eye out!

Re: Classics salon - fiction

[cahn]

*blinks* Wow, I... do not remember this at all! I literally have no memories of the book I read except a very vague memory of liking the POV character (who was not the one you were talking about, I'm pretty sure). It's possible that it was a different book, or on the other hand maybe this is why I own the Cleopatra book that is set in the same universe and not this one?? Well, I have access to it now so I shall report back.

I really liked the one Renault I read a long time ago, when I would not have picked up on what I understand from osmosis are tons of problematic things. Possibly I should have read her earlier in my life :)