Theogony, Works and Days (Oxford World's Classics)
by Hesiod
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Book Summary Information
Author: HesiodTranslator: M. L. West
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-05-13
ISBN: 0192839411
Number of pages: 79
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of Theogony, Works and Days (Oxford World's Classics)
Book Review: Ian Myles Slater on: West's Hesiod Translation
Summary: 5 Stars
Some of the other reviews offered with M.L. West's translation of Hesiod's "Theogony" and "Works and Days" for the Oxford World's Classics actually refer to Dorothea Wender's verse translation of the same works, plus a charming version of the collection of lyrics attributed to Theognis, published in the Penguin Classics. That is a worthwhile version -- although the joining of the peasant-oriented Boeotian Hesiod to the mainly aristocratic, and partly Athenian, "Theognis" corpus is a little odd.
West's version of the two main Hesiodic poems is, however, in prose, and offers the latest in textual and historical scholarship -- although this is not very obviously on display. West, who has edited much (perhaps by now all) of the "Hesiodic" corpus, with substantial technical commentaries (along with a good deal of Homer and the "Homeric Hymns"), offers here his best reading of the two long poems which seem most firmly attributed Hesiod. (Although some, including Wender, would prefer two poets, in addition to the problem of interpolations).
West's commentary, although useful, is surprisingly sparse, given what he could have offered; a lot of detailed argument has been converted into the translation itself.
"Theogony," for those not familiar with the work even by reputation, is the story of the origins and struggles of the gods of Classical Greece. Although the meter and basic style are those of the Homeric epics, and the gods are mainly the same, many details are different (Zeus is a younger son, not the eldest, for example), and the struggles between various generations are the foreground story, not a long-concluded background to the reign of Zeus. We meet Heaven, and his sons and daughters, culminating in the rebellion of the Titans, then the Olympians, who wage war against their father and his fellow-Titans, and so on. It is an extremely violent story, full of abusive parents, mutilations inflicted by rebellious offspring, divine cannibalism, and a whole succession of other behaviors the Greeks themselves considered repellent. The philosophers had real problems with this work -- one can understand from it why Plato wanted to ban poets from the ideal state.
Interspersed through the action are a number of catalogues of nature-deities, which are variously regarded by critics as interpolations or key structural elements. Many readers simply find them boring; it helps if you are using a translation which interprets the Greek names, which are usually charmingly appropriate for the natural element being personified.
"Works and Days" contains several important mythological passages, expanding and altering "Theogony," but is in the main a sort of sermon on how to be prosperous and righteous. It is packed with details of daily life, which readers will find either fascinating or tedious. and are sometimes rather opaque. West does a good job in making readable this combination of a sort of pagan equivalent of an Old Testament prophet with an Iron Age Farmer's Almanac, and his notes do help with some of the knottier passages. (Note that there is one recent translation-with-commentary of the "Works" which is dedicated almost entirely to making detailed agricultural and ethnographic sense of it; West clearly offers a more literary approach.)
The latter part of the twentieth century has seen a number of translations of the main Hesiodic poems, by Apostolos N. Athanassakis, R.M. Frazer, Richmond Lattimore, and, as noted above, Dorothea Wender (Penguin Classics), to join the old Evelyn-White bilingual edition for the Loeb Classical Library edition, with numerous attributed fragments. (A new Loeb edition has announced). There are also translations of single poems, by Norman O. Brown and by Richard S. Caldwell (both of the "Theogony") and Tandy and Neale ("Works and Days"). West offers a substantial alternative to the others, based on an exceptionally close knowledge of the textual problems.
Summary of Theogony, Works and Days (Oxford World's Classics)
This new, fully-annotated translation by a leading expert on Hesiodic poems combines accuracy with readability and includes an introduction and explanatory notes on these two works by one of the oldest known Greek poets. The Theogony contains a systematic genealogy and account of the struggles of the gods, and the Works and Days offers a compendium of moral and practical advice for a life of honest husbandry.Classics Books
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