Litsy

HeatherBookNerd

Beowulf: A Verse Translation : Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism | Seamus Heaney, Daniel Donoghue

so-so

I try to read classics periodically and I‘d never read this. I tried to be excited. It was fine.

Erinreadsthebooks I tried to teach this to seniors my first year of teaching. We were all miserable. 😩😅 5d

33 likes1 comment

Butterfinger

Babylonia | Costanza Casati

pick

What a book! Every time I picked it up, the world fell away from my mind. The plot mirrors The Epic of Gilgamesh and other ancient historical sources.

42 likes

TalesandTexts

The Mahabharata | Bibek Debroy

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Vol. 10 - in the final book, Bhishma gives Yudhishthira his final lessons on how to be a just king. Yudhishthira holds the Ashwamedha Yagna & is accepted by all as the Emperor of the World.

A grieving Dhritarashtra retires to the forest with Gandhari, Kunti, Vidura & Sanjaya. Then, Dwarka falls & Krishna is killed. Heartbroken, the Pandavas renounce the world & enroute to the summit of Meru, fall one by one - where they are welcomed into heaven.

14 likes

TalesandTexts

The Mahabharata | Bibek Debroy

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Vol. 9 is a purely philosophical treatise where we explore the practice of Moksha (renunciation). Bhishma continues his teachings to Yudhishthira, exploring the avenues of Yoga and Sankhya. We read many ancient stories and learn about long-forgotten philosophical scriptures here.

This volume was very dry & complicated. As the longest in the series at almost 800 pages, it was a challenge to get through. Definitely will need to revisit this book.

12 likes

danx

The Abduction of Sita | R. K. Narayan

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Another mini Penguin for a short trip. Thoroughly enjoyed this, my introduction to the Ramayanam - an abridged version of R. K. Narayan‘s 1972 prose - I think this is from just one section. The cover is beautiful too, this image doesn‘t do it justice. I do now have a bunch of tabs open with writing on patriarchy and the Ramayana due to Sita‘s ordeal by fire…

7 likes

JenP

The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation, Analogues, Criticism | Gilgamesh

In what is a supreme act of avoidance from writing grants (which probably won‘t get funded anyway in this climate), I decided to take a world literature course from Harvard extension. They offer a bunch of free online courses although I may pay the certificate fee just to support them. Gilgamesh is the first text they are discussing and I hadn‘t ever read it so finally getting to it

merelybookish Once upon a time I taught world lit to undergraduates (not at Harvard 😆) and always started with this. And it was often the book they liked best. Enjoy your course! Sounds fun! 3mo

JenP @merelybookish I‘m certainly liking it more than the Odyssey which I read freshman year (many years ago 😂). How fun you taught world literature. I‘m enjoying this class so far. 3mo

Tamra It‘s a fantastic historical study! 3mo

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DGRachel I decided at the beginning of the years that I wanted to do a deep dive into Ishtar, and the book I‘m reading references Gilgamesh quite a lot, so I picked up a copy last month. I‘m looking forward to getting to it. 3mo

JenP @DGRachel it‘s a very quick read. Hope you like it. I found it interesting 3mo

JenP @Tamra yes! I‘ve found it interesting to compare the deluge to the version in genesis. The historical background from the class has also been fascinating 3mo

Tamra @JenP there are several parallels with later mythologies! Humans have been asking the same questions and telling the same stories. 3mo

Avanders Love this! ♥️ 3mo

27 likes8 comments

llwheeler

Beowulf (Bilingual Edition) | Seamus Heaney

1. My degrees are in Classics, so I have (or had, super rusty now) Latin and Greek. I'd love to learn Old English so I could read...

2. ... Beowulf in the original. I love the Seamus Haney translation.

@TheSpineView #two4tuesday

TheSpineView Thanks for playing! 3mo

23 likes1 comment

dabbe

The Aeneid of Virgil | Virgil

#Two4Tuesday
@TheSpineView (thanks for the tag! 😍)

1. Latin.
2. I'd love to be able to read THE AENEID in Latin.

Play? @TheLudicReader @BarkingMadRead @mcctrish