nancy@sdcc3.UUCP (Nancy ) (03/10/86)
Does anyone know any good books about the Greek Myths? I love reading the stories, as does my boyfriend, but we've already read the two books I own many times. I'd like both adult versions and kid versions. Thanks in advance, Nancy -- ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdcc3!nancy
john@cisden.UUCP (John Woolley) (03/11/86)
In article <3185@sdcc3.UUCP> nancy@sdcc3.UUCP (Nancy ) writes: >Does anyone know any good books about the Greek Myths? >I love reading the stories ... Me, too. Here are some of my very favourites. I won't include Roman things, but some of them are exquisite. All of these can be found in English. This is nothing like a complete list. Homer _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, 2 very different books, best sellers for 2700 years. John Dryden's translation is classic, and very good. Hesiod _Works_and_Days_ and _Theogony_ (not _Theogony_and_ Theecstasy_, which is very different). Penguin has a good translation out, by whom I don't remember. Aeschylus If a dramatic treatment of Greek myths appeals, here Sophocles are the only Greek dramatists whose work has come Euripides down to us. Really good if you like these things. Appolonius Rhodius _The_Argonautica_ (a.k.a. _The_Voyage_of_Argo_), a really great epic about Jason and company. Again, Penguin's version is fine. Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) _Metamorphoses_. Yeah, I know he's a Roman, but I couldn't resist. You shouldn't, either. Virgil (Publius Virgilius Maro) _Aeneid_. (Well, they start in Greece ...) The recent translation by Fitzgerald is really good, but I still like Dryden's best. Seneca A philosopher, but he wrote plays modelled in part on the old Greek drama, and using Greek material. _Medea_ is very good. The Pearl Poet _Sir_Orfeo_. This is an exquisite Middle English poem about Orpheus. The same author's _Sir_Gawain_and_the_ _Greene_Knight_ is one of the finest of all English poems. These are hard (but possible) to read in the original, because they're in a strange dialect, but J.R.R. Tolkien of happy memory translated them very well into Modern English. G. Chaucer _Troilus_and_Criseyde_. To my mind, better than W. Shakespeare _Troilus_and_Cressida_, which is still real good. It really is worth the effort -- I guarantee it, money back -- to read Chaucer in Middle English. He's one of our very greatest poets. (Like second best.) J.-B. Racine Great French dramatist, wrote plays on Greek mythic themes. In particular I recommend _Phaedra_ and _Iphigenia_, but all his stuff's good. If you read French, do it in this case. T. Bulfinch _The_Age_of_Fable_. This has two companion volumes that aren't about Greece at all, but are good. The whole set bears the title _Bulfinch's_Mythology_. C. S. Lewis _Till_We_Have_Faces_. This is Cupid and Psyche, told in a fairly realistic way from the viewpoint of Psyche's ugly sister. A *really wonderful* book. I'm sure that as soon as I post this I'll think of five more. Oh, well. Good reading! -- Peace and Good!, Fr. John Woolley "Compared to what I have seen, all that I have written is straw." -- St. Thomas
mc68020@gilbbs.UUCP (Tom Keller) (03/12/86)
In article <3185@sdcc3.UUCP>, nancy@sdcc3.UUCP writes: > Does anyone know any good books about the Greek Myths? > I love reading the stories, as does my boyfriend, but > we've already read the two books I own many times. I'd like > both adult versions and kid versions. > Thanks in advance, > Nancy > Nancy, I don't mean to pick nits (hah!), but do you mean that you are interested in books ABOUT Greek myths, or books OF Greek myths? There *IS* a difference. -- ==================================== Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim any and all responsibility for disclaimers. tom keller {ihnp4, dual}!ptsfa!gilbbs!mc68020 (* we may not be big, but we're small! *)
sara@mhuxj.UUCP (TRIGS) (03/12/86)
> Does anyone know any good books about the Greek Myths? > I love reading the stories, as does my boyfriend, but > we've already read the two books I own many times. I'd like > both adult versions and kid versions. > Thanks in advance, To: ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdcc3!nancy Subject: re:Greek myths Probably the best way to get at the Greek myths is to read them in the original written sources-i.e., works like THE ILIAD and THE ODYSSEY, the Greek dramas and a number of ancient lyrics. Most "mythology" books are really drawing on these sources. If you are relatively new to poetry, try to find something readable in this generation. Thus you should avoid things like Alexander Pope's brilliant but very 18th cent. translation of THE ILIAD (the Elizabethan Chapman translation is better if you insist on a historical translation). It is also misleading to read a prose translation (e.g. S.Butler's), as these things were, after all, conceived and executed as poems and not novels. Among the good 20th cent. translations are Richard Lattimore's ILIAD and Robert Fitzgerald's ODYSSEY. There are quite a few decent translations of the plays including an OEDIPUS REX by no less a poet than Yeats. If you want some good scholarly books on the myths, I would recomend THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES by Joseph Campbell and THE GREEK MYTHS by Michael Grant. Bullfinch, of course, is still valuable as a reference. Good hunting! Let me know if you find what you are looking for. Regards, Jeffery Triggs p.s. THE ODYSSEY, which some scholars claim might have been written by a woman, is the more readable of the epics. > > -- > ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdcc3!nancy *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***
credmond@watmath.UUCP (Chris Redmond) (03/13/86)
> >Probably the best way to get at the Greek myths is to read them in >the original written sources-i.e., works like THE ILIAD and THE ODYSSEY, >the Greek dramas and a number of ancient lyrics. Most "mythology" books >are really drawing on these sources. If you are relatively new to poetry, >try to find something readable in this generation. Thus you should avoid >things like Alexander Pope's brilliant but very 18th cent. translation >of THE ILIAD (the Elizabethan Chapman translation is better if you insist >on a historical translation). It is also misleading to read a prose >translation (e.g. S.Butler's), as these things were, after all, conceived A particularly important collection of myths is Ovid's METAMORPHOSES, which is also available in some good modern English translations.
cjh@petsd.UUCP (Chris Henrich) (03/13/86)
[] In article <3185@sdcc3.UUCP> Nancy writes: >Does anyone know any good books about the Greek Myths? >I love reading the stories, as does my boyfriend, but >we've already read the two books I own many times. I'd like >both adult versions and kid versions. _The King Must Die_ and _The Bull From the Sea_, by Mary Renault, are two very fine historical novels about Theseus. All the marvels are there, and in such a way that it really *could* have happened. And the writing is excellent. _Hercules, My Shipmate_, by Robert Graves, is about the Argonauts. I remember liking it, but not as much as Mary Renault's novels. Regards, Chris -- Full-Name: Christopher J. Henrich UUCP: ...!hjuxa!petsd!cjh US Mail: MS 313; Concurrent Computer Corporation; 106 Apple St; Tinton Falls, NJ 07724 Phone: (201) 758-7288 Concurrent Computer Corporation is a Perkin-Elmer company.
ph@wucec2.UUCP (03/15/86)
In article <729@petsd.UUCP> cjh@petsd.UUCP (Chris Henrich) writes: >In article <3185@sdcc3.UUCP> Nancy writes: >>Does anyone know any good books about the Greek Myths? . . . > >_Hercules, My Shipmate_, by Robert Graves, is about the >Argonauts. . . . In addition, Graves has a two-volume work, THE GREEK MYTHS, which I must admit I have not read but have glanced through. From my experience of Graves' immense scholarship in other works, though (the historical appendices to works like HERCULES, MY SHIPMATE and KING JESUS are most impressive), I have no qualms about recommending it. Warning: it may seem rather dry at times, since he is careful to note variant versions and sources and other such scholarly matters in addition to telling the story of the myths. --pH /* * "Ho, ho! I hit her every time!" */
hapke@ccvaxa.UUCP (03/18/86)
An earlier poster mentioned the Middle English poem Sir Orfeo and said that it was written by the author of Gawain and the Green Knight. The Gawain poet did not write Sir Orfeo, although the poem is worth reading. The story of Troilus and Cressida is not really a Greek myth, although the it is set in the Trojan war. It is a late medieval story that was first told by Boccaccio, I think. The high Middle Ages produced large numbers of stories set in ancient Greece; Alexander the Great was a favorite topic. Most of these are not worth reading. If you like Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, try reading Robert Henryson's Testament of Cresseid. The language is more difficult than Chaucer's, but manageable if you have some experience with Middle English. Warren Hapke Gould CSD, Urbana office uiucdcs!ccvaxa!hapke
phoenix@genat.UUCP (phoenix) (03/19/86)
In article <3185@sdcc3.UUCP> nancy@sdcc3.UUCP (Nancy ) writes: >Does anyone know any good books about the Greek Myths? >I love reading the stories, as does my boyfriend, but >we've already read the two books I own many times. I'd like >both adult versions and kid versions. >Thanks in advance, >Nancy > The most comprehensive book on Greek myths that I know of is the two volume set: *The Greek Myths* by Robert Graves, author of *I, Claudius*, *The White Goddess*, etc., etc. The mythology book is available from Penguin Books Canada, Ltd. 41 Steelcase Road West Markham, Ontario Canada. The price (in Canuck bucks, of course) i$ $2.95. Nb., although the publishers are Penguin Books, the actual published book is a *Pelican Book*. -- The Phoenix (Neither Bright, Dark, nor Young) ---"A man should live forever...or die trying." ---"There is no substitute for good manners...except fast reflexes."