[Maryann Corbett]

Forgive me if this book has already been celebrated here; searches aren't turning it up. And it really does deserve celebration, as it's the work of more than a decade. I've learned much from Chris Childers about classical verse forms (and about my weaknesses in Latin!) ever since I first arrived at the Sphere long ago, and am glad to learn more. And now I have his monumental anthology. Here's what A. E. Stallings has to say about it:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/wh...t3WiAHQro2pprA

[Julie Steiner]

Thanks for bringing this up, Maryann. It looks delicious. I knew that Chris had been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts translation grant several years ago to take this on (NEA profile here, in which he said "I translate out of love and gratitude for the dead, and in hopes the living may feel some sliver of that fire"), but hadn't heard since. Congrats, Chris!

From the publisher:

Summary

'Inspired and enlightening ... here is a work of staggering ambition, exceptional accomplishment, and surprisingly pleasant reading ... an excellent gift for anyone interested in classical literature'
A. E. Stallings, Telegraph

'An extraordinary feat ... Over and over, I was impressed both by Childers's technical abilities and his vivid way of evoking the multiple voices in this rich tradition'
Emily Wilson, translator of the Odyssey and the Iliad

'An extraordinary achievement, in scope, scale and skill'
Richard Jenkyns, author of Classical Literature

The poems in this lively, wide-ranging and richly enjoyable anthology are the work of priestesses and warriors; of philosophers and statesmen; of teenage girls, concerned for their birthday celebrations; of drunkards and brawlers; of grumpy old men, and chic young things. Their authors write – or sing – about hopes, fears, loves, losses, triumphs and humiliations. Every one of them lived and died between 1,900 and 2,800 years ago.

The Penguin Book of Greek and Latin Lyric Verse is a volume without precedent. It brings together the best of two traditions normally treated in isolation, and in doing so tells a captivating story about how literature and book-culture emerged from an oral society in which memory and learning were transmitted through song. The classical vision of lyric poetry as understood by the greatest ancient poets – Sappho and Horace, Bacchylides and Catullus – mingles and interacts with our expansive modern vision of the lyric as the brief, personal, emotional poetry of a human soul laid bare.

Anyone looking for a picture of what ancient poets were up to when they were simply singing to the gods, or to their friends, or otherwise opening little verbal windows into their life and times can find it here. It is a volume full of fire and life: an undertaking of astonishing reach, and an accomplishment magisterial in its scope.

[Susan McLean]

I look forward to reading this book. Congratulations, Chris.

Susan