Featured Book, Episodes 54-7
 
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While I'm using a number of editions of the Aeneid, this is the workhorse that I used the most while writing some 110 pages of podcast episodes on the epic. Different readers have different preferences, of course, and my preference for the 2008 Frederick Ahl translation is due to its lucid, ringing language, the fantastic general introduction by Elaine Fantham, and Ahl's 100+ pages of notes, which are faultlessly linked in my Kindle edition. There are a number of Latin poets form whom Oxford editions are the only real option for those of us who don't know Latin - Catullus and Propertius, for instance. With Virgil's Aeneid, while there is a huge variety to choose from, my preference as a reader and teacher is heavily influenced by scholarly notes. The Aeneid is overwhelmingly dense at times, piling allusions on top of esoteric place names, and at key moments, like Aeneas' trip to the underworld in Book 6, good notes are essential for us nonspecialists who want to have a thorough idea of what's afoot. I started with a number of translations simultaneously, but as the first week went by, I found myself reaching for this Oxford edition most often when I simply needed a clear grasp of what was happening both plot wise and in terms of metaphor and references to classical mythology and Roman history. If you're reading the Aeneid for the first time and are the type who will turn to the notes once in a while to enrich your experience, Ahl's edition is the one for you. |
Featured Book, Episodes 54-7
While I'm using a number of editions of the Aeneid, this is the workhorse that I used the most while writing some 110 pages of podcast episodes the epic. Different readers have different preferences, of course, and my preference for the 2008 Frederick Ahl translation is due to its lucid, ringing language, the fantastic general introduction by Elaine Fantham, and Ahl's 100+ pages of notes, which are faultlessly linked in my Kindle edition. There are a number of Latin poets form whom Oxford editions are the only real option for those of us who don't know Latin - Catullus and Propertius, for instance. With Virgil's Aeneid, while there is a huge variety to choose from, my preference as a reader and teacher is heavily influenced by scholarly notes. The Aeneid is overwhelmingly dense at times, piling allusions on top of esoteric place names, and at key moments, like Aeneas' trip to the underworld in Book 6, good notes are essential for us nonspecialists who want to have a thorough idea of what's afoot. I started with a number of translations simultaneously, but as the first week went by, I found myself reaching for this Oxford edition most often when I simply needed a clear grasp of what was happening both plot wise and in terms of metaphor and references to classical mythology and Roman history. If you're reading the Aeneid for the first time and are the type who will turn to the notes once in a while to enrich your experience, Ahl's edition is the one for you.