Great Texts

Arma Virumque cano

Robert Fagles's long-awaited translation of Virgil's Aeneid is now out. I've read the read Book I and some of the purple passages throughout, and I think it's great. I'm sure that we should settle in for dueling reviews, as politically-minded classicists rarely get such a good chance to flex their philological muscles and comment on everything from modern education to the war. What do you think of it? Fagles's best translations? Worst?

Eagleton on Dawkins on God

"Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology." And thus begins Terry Eagleton's review of Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion in the London Review of Books. Eagleton's no evangelical apologist, but he's a good critic and he nails Dawkins's latest broadside against religion.

Pamuk wins Nobel

I see that Orhan Pamuk has won the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature. Pamuk is a Turkish novelist perhaps as well known for his activism as for his writing. Articles in the Times and the Chronicle of Higher Education can be found at these links. I have read two books by Pamuk: My Name is Red is a mystery and love story set in sixteenth century Istanbul. Using a provocative series of different narrators, "Orhan" presents the fascinating story of the murder of one of the Sultan's miniaturists. East and West, faith and reason, beauty and idolatry, European and Islamic art--all are on display in this disturbing philosophical mystery novel. Istanbul: Memories and the City is a work of non-fiction, part autobiographical reflection, part history of the city. I read this book in preparation for my own first trip to Istanbul. I enjoyed it and learned a great deal about this extraordinary city, but I was bothered by Pamuk's frequent condescension and antagonism toward a city and a people he clearly loves. Perhaps it is always that way.
What do you think of Pamuk? Is his work worthy of the Nobel or has the Commission principally chosen an author (like Pinter last year and Jelinek the year before) who is a visible symbol of protest against his government? Has anyone here read his latest novel Snow? (I have not.)

Simon Says

Did anyone see this bit by Simon Blackburn from The Guardian last month? Under the title "Voices of Reason", Blackburn takes a shot at just about everything in Plato's Republic, arguing that the book is (obviously) all about "process not product." If that's the case, one wonders why Blackburn would conclude that "the book's theory of knowledge is a disaster. Its attempt to do what it seemingly sets out to do - which is to show that the moral individual, and only the moral individual, is happy - is largely a sequence of conjuring tricks." For Blackburn, Plato's real value is illustrated by the legendary tale that he died while clutching a copy of Aristophanes. Throw in a shot at Strauss, guilt by association with Hitler and the theocons, and a heavy dose of condescension, and you've got vintage Blackburn and great dinner theater.

Surely, there's one or two things for us to discuss here?