Piecing Together the Fragments: Translating Classical Verse, Creating Contemporary Poetry
Josephine Balmer
Abstract
This book examines the art of classical translation from the perspective of the practitioner, arguing that translator statements such as prefaces and introductions, should be considered as much a part of creative writing as literary theory. From translating Sappho and other classical women poets, as well as Catullus and Ovid, to poetry collections inspired by classical literature, this book's author discusses her relationship with her source texts and uncovers the various strategies and approaches she has employed in their transformations into English. In particular, the book reveals how the n ... More
This book examines the art of classical translation from the perspective of the practitioner, arguing that translator statements such as prefaces and introductions, should be considered as much a part of creative writing as literary theory. From translating Sappho and other classical women poets, as well as Catullus and Ovid, to poetry collections inspired by classical literature, this book's author discusses her relationship with her source texts and uncovers the various strategies and approaches she has employed in their transformations into English. In particular, the book reveals how the need for radical translation strategies in any rendition of classical texts into English can inspire the poet/translator to new poetic forms and approaches. Above all, it considers how, through the masks or personae of ancient voices, such works offer writers a means of expressing dangerous or difficult subject matter they might not otherwise have been able to broach.
Keywords:
classical translation,
classical literature,
classical poetry,
Catullus,
Sappho,
Ovid,
classical women poets,
translation strategies,
creativity and scholarship,
contemporary poetry
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2013 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199585090 |
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2014 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199585090.001.0001 |