3533 - Special Interest Group (SIG): The Aeneid co-led by Jay Miller and Catharine Clark
Course Description
New Student Interest Group (SIG): The Aeneid co-led by Jay Miller and Catharine Clark beginning September 18th at 1PM In-person. If you’re intimidated by poetry or ancient works, don’t be, the pace is compelling, and the themes are very relevant today.
This SIG will utilize The Aeneid by Vergil, a New Translation by Shadi Bartsch. Although there is no tuition for the SIG, you will need to purchase this translation (available at Amazon or other booksellers). Bartsch differs from other translators in that hers is a literal translation staying true to how the poem sounds in the original Latin with Vergil’s distinctively quick pace.
For comparison, Robert Fagles’ begins his popular 2006 translation by expanding Vergil’s opening from three lines into four:
Wars and a man I sing – an exile driven on by Fate,
he was the first to flee the coast of Troy,
destined to reach Lavinian shores and Italian soil,
yet many blows he took on land and sea from the gods above
Adhering to three lines, here’s Bartsch’s translation:
My song is of war and a man: a refugee by fate,
the first from Troy to Italy’s Lavinian shores,
battered much on land and sea by the blow from gods
In some ways, Fagles creates beautiful poetry of his own while Bartsch’s translation relies on Vergil’s pacing, wording, and alliteration where possible. The Aeneid SIG will utilize Bartsch’s translation, which some readers find more accessible and inclusive.
Brief Background: Vergil wrote The Aeneid at the indirect request of Augustus Caesar, whose image needed rehabilitation due to his many brutal acts. Thus, Vergil fashioned The Aeneid into a founding myth of the Roman Empire by tying Rome to Troy and making Aeneas into a hero.
Aeneas is a Trojan who fled Troy with the intention of resettling in Italy. Books 1–6 cover Aeneas’ wanderings (and mirror Homer’s The Iliad); books 7–12 describe the war upon the Latins (and mirror Homer’s The Odyssey). (Of interest, Dante famously made Vergil his guide through Hell in The Inferno, part 1 of 3 in his Divine Comedy.)
The SIG will meet on the third Thursday of the month, at 1 PM, in an OLLI classroom to discuss 1–2 of 12 Books (i.e., sections) of The Aeneid each month.
Schedule for our first four discussions:
- 1st meeting: September 18 (3rd Thursday) at 1 PM
- 2nd meeting: October 23 (one time only: 4th Thursday) at 1 PM
- 3rd meeting: November 20 (3rd Thursday) at 1 PM
- 4th meeting: December 18 (3rd Thursday) at 1 PM
Course Outline
https://www.amazon.com/Aeneid-Vergil/dp/1984854100
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-aeneid-vergil/1101708293;jsessionid=F993DE13618F4ECBD9380CF79B6F9A65.prodny_store01-atgap13?ean=9781984854100&st=AFF&2sid=Random%20House%20Inc_8373827_NA&sourceId=AFFRandom%20House%20Inc
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57008297-the-aeneid