european

este libro de homero es mucho mas interesante que la iliada, ya que los el viaje de ulises esta lleno de peripecias y aventuras que traspasan los limites de lo creible, de lo imposible. pero estas gentes eram semidioses o estaban protegidos por ellos. penelope representa la espera, la esposa fiel que se mantiene esperando el retorno a itaca madre a itaca mujer, a itaca origen de ulises ..... LUIS MENDEZ luismemndez@codetel.net.do

La odisea es un libro excelente, el lector siempre está en suspenso queriendo saber como es que Odiseo se las arregla para salir de cada situación.

El libro es muy emocinante, toda al angustia que viven los pesonajes pricipales uno la puede sentir.

El libro está lleno de metáforas y adjetivos que caracterizan muy bien a los pesonajes.

Este es uno de los mejores libros que he leido, y sobretodo, lo mejor es que incluye a los tres generlos literarios, poetico, dramatico y narrativo, es un buen libro para los estudiantes como yo, que ademas de divertirse un buen rato, quieren conocer su idioma mas profundamente y llenarse de cultura

Rodney Merrill's rendering of the Odyssey represents translation at its best ; it serves Homer beautifully in that it is written to be read aloud, and to arouse the emotional solidarity between the performer and its audience that will be understood at once by people who go to listen to music played in public today. You will enjoy the rich materiality of the text (the rythm of the drumming consonants and the melody of the short and long vowels) in its accurate relationship to the characters of the heroes and to the development of story. This new translation will contribute to the enduring popularity of the Odyssey.

Having recently read Guy Davenport's essay "Another Odyssey," which reviews the available English translations and finds them all wanting, I asked a friend, a Greek scholar, what to do. He immediately suggested this Rodney Merrill translation -- with words to the effect that "the Odyssey has FINALLY been translated into English WELL." Of course, nothing will ever beat the original, but this comes close.

I found that, in this translation, for the very first time, "The Odyssey" grabbed me both as a story AND as a poem, as a literary composition.

If you haven't discovered this marvelous book yet, you are in for a treat!

Highest possible recommendation!

This new Homer's Odyssey translation by Rodney Merrill strives to be very literal to the Greek and to also match the line and meter of the Greek, to the extent that can be done in English. That said, the translation reads very well on the page, and in skimming through any particular book of the great epic poem one can see that Merrill has classic aesthetic taste regarding some of his choice of epithets and turns of phrases (as well as his overall approach). 'Great-hearted Odysseus', for instance, is a far better translation than 'Kind Odysseus' or 'Valiant Odysseus' or any of the numerous other choices one can find in all the many 20th century English translations. I point out that one little epithet just to give a sense of Merrill's approach. 'Great-hearted' suggests a level of being higher than the average human being, and that is what Odysseus possesses. Sticking to the literal meaning of the Greek like that (and I assume this is what Merrill has done in that epithet since he announces that this is his overall intention in translating the poem) is what is needed in a translation of the Odyssey (or Iliad). Just in the way that you can get a good feel for a translation this one has that good feel about it. It looks similar to Lattimore on the page, yet it reads much better. Maybe not poetically (go to Chapman or Pope for that), but for what Merrill seems to be attempting it comes across as successful.

I really enjoyed the very original black & white graphics that accompanied each of the fables: the graphics alone are worth the price of this book including the English Audio CD of the translations. I played the CD by itself and I was mesmerized by the witty delivery that completely matches the original French satire. It would be a blast to see it done as a one-man stage show! Thanks for this excellent package!

If you enjoy French literature in translation, you should already be familiar with the name of Norman Shapiro--one of our pre-eminent French-to-English translators. Quite simply, whatever Mr. Shapiro chooses to translate results in a highly enjoyable, entertaining addition to my French lit. bookshelf! If you find pleasure in Richard Wilbur's Moliere, Donald Frame's Montaigne and Rabelais, Richard Howard's Stendhal and Baudelaire, Burton Raffel's Chretien, or Merwin's Song of Roland--then you owe it to yourself to investigate Shapiro's La Fontaine translations--four volumes to date: "Fifty Fables" and "Fifty More Fables" published by Illinois, "La Fontaine's Bawdy" published by Princeton, and the present book, "Once Again, La Fontaine" published by Wesleyan. These books are--alas!--one of the best-kept secrets of High French Literature to Read for Pleasure.

Also, Shapiro has translated volumes of Verlaine and Baudelaire for the University of Chicago press (two very handsome paperback editions), and do be on the lookout for his edition of Ronsard/Marot/Bellay from Yale University Press!

The publisher's annotation fails to mention *anywhere* that the CD included with the disc features 26 fables read by actor Douglas Sills, of Broadway's The Scarlet Pimpernel fame. He does a delightful job of interpreting various characters.

Reaves has done a brilliant job with this Rydberg classic!
...a definite must for fans of Rydberg, and an important addition to any Heathen library!

I loved The Lord of the Rings and thought it was time to get back in touch with the roots of Tolkien's lore.

This work, "Our Fathers' Godsaga" is an amazing synthesis of the Norse mythological material, retold in a logical and concise manner. It's the best retelling of the Norse mythic epic I've ever read! I could not put it down.

Very nicely done. It contains the classic illustrations and is a translation from the Swedish of Viktor Rydberg. It also contains a full glossary of names at the back. Great resource. Highly recommended!

This is the absolute best epic re-telling of the Germanic myths ever put in print! Rydberg was a master - and hats off to the translator, Reaves, for a top-notch job. If I could give this ten stars, I would. It belongs on every bookshelf!

This book so captured our imaginations that I had to purchase a little wooden Dala horse for our son. The artwork is beautiful, the story is culturally sensitive, the scenes are exciting and the language is rich. I've been reading this book to my son since he was two. He's four, now, and still loves it!

My heritage is 100% Swedish. It is difficult for me to find books about Swedish culture in general, and close to impossible to find Swedish stories to which my seven-year old son can relate.

I believe each cultural has its own beauty and much to offer the world. I often encounter people assuming that because we speak English and are Lutheran, then our cultural heritage is the same as Britain's (we're are not Anglo-Saxons, the Church of England has nothing to do with Scandinavia, and our native tongue is Swedish) or since Swedish is a Germanic language, then our culture must be like the Germans'. Like every other society that has evolved on its own, the Swedes are proud of who they are and how they came to be.

I remember Dala horses all over my grandparents' homes and in my house growing up as well. I want very much for my son to enjoy the richness of where his family comes from, and why we still remain so close to our relatives in "the old country." This is simply a wonderful book that has aided in giving my son his own cultural identity.

I am very grateful that this book is so Swedish. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for new perspectives about the smaller European nations.

I recently read this book to my second graders while studying Sweden. Not only did they enjoy the story, but the illustrations gave them inspiration to create their own Dala horses. This book is by far my favorite, for the lesson it teaches and the beautiful artwork it exhibits.

The Dutch Golden Age wasn't high on my list of favorites -- until this book came along.

This, in common with other volumes in the "Perspectives" series, offers high quality (though small) reproductions of important works, up-to-date analysis and discussion of the art and the contexts in which it was created.

It does all this while also offering two things that are rare in art books -- clear, well-written prose accessible to a lay audience, and a reasonable price. An excellent introduction to the subject, and a wonderful addition to any library.

This book has many strengths: a large number of color photographs, the latest scholarship, and a variety of interpretative considerations. Westermann organizes the book thematically instead of by genre, which allows the reader to grasp the wholeness of Dutch art. Weaknesses: landscape and the contributions of Rembrandt are not given their due. Overall, a fine work that is appropriate both for the layman and the scholar.

This is the best and most readable introduction to the art of the Dutch Republic that is available today. Highly recommended

I first discovered Celan last November when I read "With A Variable Key" on the web page for Roman Polanski's "The Pianist." Curious, I checked out a book of his works from the university library and was immediately enthralled in Celan's world. I purchased this book soon after.
Celan puts his life into his work and I personally have always admired poets/writers who are willing to lay themselves bare in their own work.
There's the dark, harshness of "Death Fugue" that left me speechless the first time I read it. The subtle beauty of "How You" and "Not Until" touch me personally. However, my favorite of his poems has to be "With A Variable Key." It's the poem that lead me to him and leaves me singing his praises.
Celan, along with this collection, is an essential to any collection of poetry.

Poet and translator Michael Hamburger has done us an excellent service by giving us this book, which will certainly become the bilingual edition of choice for Paul Celan. A few words.

On Celan: Probably the second most important German-language poet of the 20th century after Rilke, but very different in style and mindset! Whereas Rilke provides incredible lyricism, Celan's poetry is jerky, raw, cut-off, even tortured. Struggling with how to write poetry in the German language after the Holocaust (Celan was a Jew), he chose to focus on the basics of language - prepositions, pronouns - and place the language under such pressure and in such tension that poetry could again speak. To Adorno's claim that there could be "no poetry after Auschwitz", Celan proved there was a way, but it was a very difficult one. If you have not yet come across Celan, I can heartily recommend him as one of the greats of the 20th century. His most famous poem is "Todesfuge" or "Death Fugue", but his other poems are also excellent. But be forewarned - this is no light verse. You'll get some heavy stuff, but you'll love it.

On Hamburger: he is a good poet in his own right and a wonderful translator, having already provided the best edition of Hoelderlin's poetry. Now that he has turned to Celan, we benefit very much from his efforts. Celan is incredibly difficult to translate, and the translator must make many choices and must try not to destroy the ambiguity in the German by reducing it simplistically into the English. Hamburger does a good job in this - in most cases a better job than Felstiner, who is the other main translator of Celan (and has a different collection). I would recommend Hamburger's translations over Felstiner. In most cases, he retains more, and there are fewer times when you will say "Eh? Why did he do that??" I suppose if you don't speak any German at all, this will make less of a difference, but if you're getting a bilingual edition you probably can at least read a little bit.

Well, a very good book of translations and a fantastic poet. What more could you ask for?

...have been for him to come across the words he found growing in himself in the tongue of the enemy:

Schimmelgrün ist das Haus des Vergessens.

Vor jedem der wehenden Tore blaut dein enthaupteter Spielmann.

Er schlägt dir die Trommel aus Moos und bitterem Schamhaar;

mit schwärender Zehe malt er im Sand deine Braue.

Länger zeichnet er sie als sie war, und das Rot deiner Lippe.

Du füllst hier die Urnen und speisest dein Herz.

------------------------------

Green as mould is the house of oblivion.

Before each of the blowing gates your beheaded minstrel turns blue.

For you he beats his drum made of moss and of harsh pubic hair;

With a festering toe in the sand he traces your eyebrow.

Longer he draws it than ever it was, and the red of your lip.

You fill up the urns here and nourish your heart.

---------------------------

I read these translations side-by-side with the originals, and find them to be about as ept as it gets -- German poetry is clunky enough put into English, but with Celan it gets completely out of hand -- his Deutsch reads like a patois of German and Martian -- twisting the sounds into shapes like a balloon-animal-maker before a birthday party of children, wringing meaning and context and consonance from consonantless animal cries, deep in the night, skinned on frost, in a crater of some prison moon, staring down at the earth very small and far away and jewellike from that distance...

He is such a poet of genuine Mystery -- each poem is like a game wherein he asks you, very nicely, to allow him to blindfold you; you assent to it, and then let him lead down through the scrub and over the cobbles and down to the riverbank and then you hear him jump in. By the time you get the blindfold off and figure out where you are, he has sunk from sight, shoes full of stones... All that is left is the poem, written on dry leaves with a stick dipped in mud, already coming apart in your paws...

Gay Daly's first book I believe is so rich with facts and so well researched I couldn't help thinking all the way through how much time and effort she must have put into it.

It is a journey back in time to Victorian England making you feel you like you are there watching these amazing artists do their thing. To have found out so much detail on the lives of these people was astonishing to me and if you read it you will get a fabulous education on the Pre-Raphaelites and what they believed in.

"Each is a psychological and aesthetic puzzle," Gay Daly writes about the women who modeled for the Pre-Raphaelite painters. "One woman sits with eyes closed in a religious trance that seems to border on sexual ecstasy. Another, longing for an absent lover, stretches like a langorous tiger, her voluptuous body wrapped in a dress of rich royal blue velvet that dominates the canvas, insisting that the viewer dwell on her curves" (pp. xvii-xviii). Founded in 1848, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, namely William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, "believed that every rose must be painted from a live flower, every face from an actual human being" (p. xviii). They searched every Victorian street corner, drawing room, and church for the faces and bodies that would fire both their artistic and romantic fantasies. The "beautiful" and equally "disturbing" women they painted came from almost every class and corner of London. Among them were the "spoiled, petted daughter of a solicitor, a hearty, motherly prostitute, a wily barmaid, and the daughter of a Methodist minister" (p. xix).

Drawn from letters written by and to these intriguing women (p. xxii), Daly's book triumphs at bringing the Pre-Raphaelites and their romances to life in these pages. For instance, Daly explores the ten-year romance between Rossetti and his "medieval shining angel" (p. 32), Lizzie Siddal (a shopgirl), which ended with her suicide at age 32; Hunt's "dance of approach and avoidance" (p. 120) with a "gorgeous young" barmaid, Annie Miller (p. 101), a "street urchin" who "swore like a trooper and couldn't read a word" (p. 104); and Millais' sexually-charged marriage to Effie Gray, who was previously linked to John Ruskin in a strange marriage that was never consumated. Along the way, Ruskin, Charles Dickens, George Eliot and Rudyard Kipling make appearances in Daly's ambitious book.

Although it was challenging to locate a copy of Daly's out-of-print book, her study of the Pre-Raphaelites was as interesting to read as a Victorian novel. She insightfully examines Victorian social values and marriage, and reveals that the romantic lives of the Pre-Raphaelites were just as mesmerizing as their luminous paintings.

G. Merritt

The author reveals the intimate lives and souls of both the Pre-Raphaelite painters and their models. The thoughtless treatment of the women by these self-centered men is made acceptable only by the evidence of the genius involved in their craft. Daly's ability to bring these complex personalities to life is captivating.

Tolstaya demonstrates just how hard it is to size Russians up in a collection of book reviews and essays on the Russian character. These stories sparkle with many telling anecdotes, drifting back and forth over time. Pushkin has long held a dear place in the Russian heart because of his "inner freedom," Tolstaya noted. The unconquerable spirit that managed to survive one regime after another over the centuries.

Book reviews dominate this collection, from her appreciation of Robert Conquest's The Great Terror to her witty dismissal of Gail Sheehy's book on Gorbachev. She also takes aim at Russian authors, in particular the cult that formed around Solzhenitsyn. The Russian soul is something that continually eludes authors. Exceedingly hard to pin down as is the Russian language.

Jamey Gambrell worked with Tolstaya on this translation, giving it the character of her voice. Although most of the pieces were written during the death throes of the Soviet Union, her observations are still timely and present a compelling portrait of Russia in transition. She takes a stab at the enigmatic Vladimir Putin and the events that led up to his ascension to power. She packs into these essays more meat than many scholars do in their massive tomes on Russia. It is a voice that is both fresh and enlightening.

Intellectuals have problems fitting in with the big buddies in the world. This might be more true in Russia during the last few centuries than elsewhere, but PUSHKIN'S CHILDREN by Tatyana Tolstaya does not have an index, in which to look up Lenin, for his opinion on the intelligentsia, to illustrate the point. The intellectual freedoms which literary people in Russia had been seeking since the time of Herzen were finally granted by Gorbachev. But then the Partocracy, "accustomed to doing nothing concrete, to producing a lot of empty talk, they were shaken from their usual rut by the very mystery of what was happening. They were so baffled that it was easy to sweep them from their posts. When someone has fainted, you can quickly throw them out the door." (p. 44). People who live in democracies should recognize the ability of voters to do this to rulers on a regular basis, if the voters have enough reason and are given the opportunity.

In the case of Gorbachev, the larger question of how he managed to preside over the collapse of an empire and an economic system is of unusual interest for people in democracies whose outlooks for wealth are not stable. Tolstaya pictures the intelligentsia as being too moral to grasp the downside of what would happen when "Gorbachev made his first, and perhaps his most serious, mistake. He forbade the people to drink.
"The intelligentsia forgave him for this (they were `moved by their own perdition'). The Partocracy was happy. Here was a concrete task, and a familiar one: to fight, to root out, to fire people from their jobs. They set to tearing out grape vines, paving over rare vinyards in the Crimea, uprooting muscat so fine and expensive that `the people' couldn't get near it. They only counted the monstrous losses when the campaign was over. During the campaign, however, people cursed Gorbachev, bought up all the sugar, perfected their knowledge of moonshine manufacture, and most important of all, grasped that they could do everything their own way and not get caught or punished. An epidemic of hoarding began. Sugar, soap, matches, and lightbulbs disappeared, and then sheets and pillows, and then clothes, shoes, eggs, and finally bread." (p. 45).

Most of the people in the world live in countries where they do not need to depend on their government to supply them with such items, and even the United States, rich as it is in so many ways, might expect to be able to conquer anyplace it chooses without having to furnish such items to everybody. Even the current road map might appear to create a state for the Palestinians in an area in which Jewish settlements are the hoarders of anything they might really want. Long before, this book, PUSHKIN'S CHILDREN, starts with a book review of SOVIET WOMEN: WALKING THE TIGHTROPE, by Francine du Plessix Gray, in which reality conforms to the old maxim, "Women can do everything, and men do all the rest." (p. 3). War and prison camps kept men away from homes and jobs in the first half of the twentieth century. "An honest person tried his or her best not to participate in this `official' life. Those who did get involved in the hellish machine were broken: either it destroyed all traces of individuality and compromised them morally and ethically, or--if a person rebelled--it threw him out of society, sometimes sending him as far as Siberia." (p. 11).

Things change as the essays in this book were written. "In January 1994, no one talks about politics and no one explains anything, no matter how much I ask. No one understands anything. No one believes in anyone or anything." (pp. 127-128). With incredibly high prices, "But there are happy surprises, too: a medicine that I bought in America for $50 turned out to be so cheap in Russia that I bought fifteen jars and paid only five cents for it. (I should have bought thirty jars.)" (p. 128).

Another explanation for the collapse of the Soviet Union was in the personality conflict between its primary leaders. "In February 1991, Yeltsin was dying to speak on television and Gorbachev wouldn't let him. . . . Many people understood that the conflict between these two strong personalities did in fact threaten the country with collapse--and with unforeseen consequences." (p. 147). Then, "Having rushed to `seize' Russia, he didn't know what to do with it." (p. 151). Yeltsin is pictured as dreaming that things would be better for him if he were in America. "(I wonder whether, somewhere in the depths of Yeltsin's subconscious, he is remembering the last house of the last Russian tsar, given to Nikolai II by the Bolsheviks, which Yeltsin himself had blown up on orders from Moscow.) In any event, I rather think that if an American president willfully decided to get rid of California, Nevada, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, the two Virginias, both Carolinas, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, the grateful American people wouldn't build him anything more than a hut in Alaska, at best, and wouldn't give him any sled dogs either." (pp. 151-152).

This book is really too good. Even if you know a lot of what this book covers, the point of view is unusual and witty enough to make it entertaining. But in our times, even PUSHKIN'S CHILDREN has to admit, "Recently Americans have not shown much interest in what is going on in Russia." (pp. 185-186). The final paragraph, dated 2000, includes the kind of things that feed current fears. "Russians began to remove everything they possibly could from institutes and factories, and to sell everything they stole, including state secrets--actual, not imagined ones. They stole poisons, mercury, uranium, cesium, and vaccines. Even, in one instance, smallpox virus." (p. 242). Take it from an author who "used to buy meat patties at some tank factory. No one ever stopped me." (p. 242).

This is a wonderful collection of essays. Tolstaya is sharp, opinionated, and savvy. Full of insight into contemporary Russia -- its leaders and its people.

This book is a very good re-telling of the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. (Mom tells Red to take a basket of goodies to Grandma, as she isn't feeling well. Also instructs girl not to talk to strangers. Red takes basket of goodies to grandma, meets wolf on the way. Wolf has charming manners, and Red explains where she is going to him. Wolf beats Red to Grandma's house, gobbles up Grandma, and puts on nightcap and glasses. When Red comes to door wolf eats her too. Luckily for them, a hunter comes along and saves them by killing the wolf and cutting him open.)

This version sticks right to the classic, with only a slight, funny twist at the end. The illustrations are bright, bold, colorful and very cute. The story is told in a straightforward, unadorned manner. Granny has a wonderful personality, and the whole book is wonderful. My favorite part is where Granny gets mad at the wolf for coming into her house and interrupting her reading.

Loggie log log log

Hold onto your hats! This version is the one I grew up with!
Y'know, where RRH and her granny get EATEN! Gasp, swoon! AND its written with the good ol' James Marshall humor. I loved it as an adult. I read it to my 4 yr old preschool class, not knowing it had the "surprise" ending...tee hee...they were a bit shocked to know that RRH and granny get eaten instead of being locked up in the closet or chased around the room. What will their parents think? The room was dead silent when the wolf gobbled them up, humorously, of course. Nah, I recommend this book for those who want to keep up the tradition in the fairy tale world. Thanks, James Marshall, for braving political correctness' delicacy and doing up the true tale just right!

I can't recommend James Marshall's fairy tale rehashes more enthusiastically. They are SO funny. By all means buy them all for your children. See also "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and "The Three Little Pigs."