[Chris Childers]

Thanks for the kind words, friends. Andrew, Ben Downing told me to get rid of that, and I probably should have listened to him. I was thinking entirely of Richard Wilbur's poem about it, For the New Railway Station in Rome. I suppose it isn't new anymore, however.

[Charlotte Innes]

Great, news, Chris! Were you ever away? I certainly recognize the blue suit... At any rate, lots of kudos coming your way.

Charlotte

[Terese Coe]

Congratulations, Chris, and that's quite a fine haul as well!

[Andrew Frisardi]

I got what you intended with the Termini station reference: exemplary modern architecture in Rome. So it is not an error to have it in there, just ironic from another point of view. From what I've seen your essay would have been good as an introduction to the book, never mind a review to it. Really fine work.

[Susan McLean]

That's an informative and fascinating review, Chris. Thanks for linking to it.

Susan

[Gregory Dowling]

Chris, this is a superb essay. I read Aaron's translation a while back and was immensely impressed by it; I did find it strange and different and you've done a great job of explaining the reasons for its strangeness. You've also brought out the fact that it is great "fun" - to use your own word. I was fascinated by your description of the Alexandrian background to this work; you give a wonderful picture of life in the city. And your analysis of the way Aaron uses Miltonic echoes is superb.

I fully agree with what Julie has to say about the conclusion of your essay. Worth reading by and of itself (but obviously much better to read it in its full context).

And I guessed Wilbur was behind your reference to the Termini station...

[Chris Childers]

Thanks again, everybody! Gregory, that's too kind, but I'm very grateful you said it.

C

[Bill Carpenter]

Chris, thanks again for your substantial review of Aaron's Argonautica, which I eagerly look forward to reading. I read an old prose translation from Penguin some years back and it made no impression on me beyond general dullness. You make the poem sound much more interesting, and the new translation appears to be superb.

I highly recommend Fred Turner's Epic, a global anthropological study of the form. He would probably say that discovering a new way to relate to a particular Other can be the foundation of an epic, the form being more generally is concerned with the leap in culture that makes it possible for a given people to come into being. It seems as though Apollonius touches many primitive themes of epic that Homer ignores, as if he wanted to acknowledge its historical varieties as well as perform the epic function for his own audience, or rather, as if acknowledging historical varieties is the mode in which to perform the function in his time and place, cf. Joyce and Pound, two of our honorary Alexandrians. Bill