Category Archives: Translation

rodin and the ancient greeks, & the iliad

Posted on May 20, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

rodin and the ancient greeks i didn’t realise that rodin spent a lot of time in london, and that he kept visiting the british museum to see the elgin marbles and other greek sculpture; it seems (at least according to … Continue reading →

Posted in Exhibition, Novel, Poem, Translation | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Statius: “Achilleid”

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

This 1st-century AD Latin poet died after writing a book and a half of his epic on Achilles; intended no doubt to build on the success of his Thebaid, about the civil war between the sons of Oedipus Polynices and … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Translation | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

“The Rings of Saturn” by W.G. Sebald

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

A chance find on the bookshelves of a holiday cottage in Staithes. Ten short chapters. I’d heard of the author, but that only: I didn’t even know he was German. If I had I might have been put off, as … Continue reading →

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Herodotus’ Histories

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Houyhnhnm

My previous experience of Herodotus had been, as for many classicists, that of reading isolated episodes, either as set texts for teaching Greek GCSE, or as passages for unseen translation. I’d also read some of his stories in secondary literature, … Continue reading →

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The Divine Comedy

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

Wow. Took ages, particularly ploughing through Paradiso: they’re right that evil is more interesting. But it was a surprise. Mainly the strangely modern beginnings to most cantos, easy conversations on the lines of “you know when a candle…” or “you … Continue reading →

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“The New Jerusalem” by Emanuel Swedenborg

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

Starts as a promising attempt to work out a spiritual life from first principles. Swedenborg’s (admittedly naive) mutually-derived binary oppositions (so Good and Truth give respectively Will and Intellect, which, again respectively, give Charity and Faith; so, Good leads to … Continue reading →

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President Oidipous

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Houyhnhnm

My children, last in the long line of Kadmos’ descendants, Why have you gathered here before me? What help do you want? The whole city stinks of incense; The whole city rings with chants and prayers. So, my children, I, … Continue reading →

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