> >Does one want a faithful reproduction of the Latin, almost a 'key'? - >which acts as a kind of decoding of the original? Or does one say, OK, >I'm not a Latinist; if I were I'd read the poem in the original; and what >I need is something that works as a *poem*, that makes me feel and >understand some of the emotions in the original poem, without necessarily >reproducing in an academic way metre, language, syntax? >
Personally I think it depends on the nature on the text, and its subject. For example, having read various translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey I have come to the conclusion that the Iliad suits a more formal, rigid translation whereas The Odyssey works better with a looser, more flexible translation, simply because of the nature of the material being translated. I also think its important that the translator leaves room for personal interpretation. The problem with a translation that as you wrote "makes me feel and understand some of the emotions in the original poem" is that there is a danger of one's reaction to the text being prescribed by the reaction of the person translating it. I think, anyway. Does that make any sense?? The other determining factor is : what function do you want the translation to fulfil? Its not neccesarily true that a person reading a translation of Virgil is incapable of reading the original. Personally I am capable of reading the Aeneid in Latin but have chosen to read it in English, and indeed to study all works of ancient literature in English, because I am less interested in the language than in the meaning. But (back to the point) if one wants an English translation to use, if you like, alongside the original then it can be a looser translation because the rigid translation is accesible to you in the original. Incidentally, someone commented on my e-mail name - "oracle". I don't actually claim to be an oracle (if only!!!!!) it just happens to be an anagram of my name, Carole. I don't like to put my proper name on my e-mail address because it attracts unsolicited e-mail, especially being female. I generally call myself "Caro" - I prefer that to Carole - sorry for the confusion. Caro ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
