“Robert Fagles, shortly before his death, set the bar very high for translating [Virgil’s] Aeneid. Yet already the scholar-poet Sarah Ruden has soared over the bar. . . The translation is alive in every part. . . . This is the first translation since Dryden’s that can be read as a great English poem in itself.”—Garry Wills, New York Review of Books
(Garry Wills
New York Review of Books 20080501)
"Ruden''s translation separates itself from others by using the same number of verses as Vergil does. She has produced a fresh poetic translation for contemporary English-speaking readers, one that speaks with its own voice."—David Quint, author of Cervantes''s Novel of Modern Times: A New Reading of "Don Quijote"
(David Quint 20081001)
"Sarah Ruden''s translation is distinguished by the quality of its verse, the unrelenting propulsive force of its narrative drive, and the intelligence with which she has shaped Vergil to fit her pentameter lines."—Charles Martin, translator, Metamorphoses: A New Translation
(Charles Martin 20081103)
"Grace and power reside in Sarah Ruden’s economical line-for-line translation of The Aeneid. Like Vergil’s Latin, her English may easily be lifted off the page and given voice."—Janet Lembke, translator of Virgil’s Georgics
(Janet Lembke 20081201)
“Toning down the magniloquence, Sarah Ruden gives us an Aeneid more intimate in tone and soberer in measure than we are used to—a gift for which many will be grateful.”—J.M. Coetzee
(J.M. Coetzee 20081207)
"By conveying the emotional force of the Latin, Ruden makes the Aeneid newly vivid, exciting, and relevant. This translation proves why, for centuries, Virgil''s remarkable epic has been required reading."—Mary Lefkowitz, author of Greek Gods, Human Lives: What We Can Learn From Myths
(Mary Lefkowitz 20080501)
"Fast, clean, and clear, sometimes terribly clever, and often strikingly beautiful. . . . Epigrammatic statements that lose their punch in more diffuse translations are virtually always preserved by Ruden with immense profit to the impact in English. . . . Ruden has found ingenious solutions to echo some of Virgil''s great sound effects—solutions I''ve not seen in other translations, prose or verse. . . . The tone is pitch perfect. Ruden''s English remains remarkably free from convolution. What is happening, who is speaking, and who is doing what to whom is always clear. For me, hers is the cleanest of modern verse translations. . . . Many human achievements deserve our praise, and this excellent translation is certainly one of them."—Richard Garner, The New Criterion
(Richard Garner
The New Criterion 20090312)
"An intimate rendering of great emotional force and purity. . . . The immediacy, beauty, and timelessness of the original Latin masterpiece lift off these pages with gem-like originality. . . . Highly recommended. All readers, all levels."—Choice
(
Choice 20090201)
Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title of 2008.
(Outstanding Academic Title
Choice )
Selected as one of the Favorite Books of 2008 on Mr. Wilson''s Bookshelf/Books & Culture
(Mr. Wilson's Bookshelf
Books & Culture )
"A welcome and interesting addition to the volumes of Virgil scholarship."—Chris Hedges, Philadelphia Inquirer
(Chris Hedges
Philadelphia Inquirer )
"Fast, clean, and clear, sometimes terribly clever, and often strikingly beautiful. . . . For me, hers is the cleanest of modern verse translations."—Richard Garner, The New Criterion
(Richard Garner
The New Criterion )
“Robert Fagles, shortly before his death, set the bar very high for translating [Vergil’s] Aeneid. Yet already the scholar-poet Sarah Ruden has soared over the bar. . . . The translation is alive in every part. . . . This is the first translation since
Dryden’s that can be read as a great English poem in itself.”—Garry Wills, New York Review of Books
(Garry Wills
New York Review of Books )
“… pellucid and propulsive – limpidly austere in its diction and dynamic in its narrative speed … Ruden, not just an esteemed classicist herself, but a poet of considerable skill, has chosen boldly. Her work is that rarity: a line-for-line rendition of Virgil’s epic in English that declares ten syllables a fit match for the Aeneid’s hexameters … [Ruden’s] diction is almost unfailingly chaste (as Auden described Frost’s), and the great clarity and force this lends her translation are evident everywhere … I cannot stress strongly enough Ruden’s skill with near-Swinburnean sound effects … Ruden has taken the pentameter plunge and gambled that a line-for-line account of Virgil’s Aeneid can be made … [She] has won her wager.” - Len Krisak, Translation and Literature, Volume 18
(Len Krisak
Translation and Literature, Volume 18 )
“. . . The translation is alive in every part. . . . [T]he first translation since Dryden’s that can be read as a great English poem in itself.”— Garry Wills, New York Review of Books
(Garry Wills
New York Review of Books )
“. . . Ruden . . . a poet of considerable skill, has chosen boldly. Her work is . . . [a] rarity. . . . I cannot stress strongly enough Ruden’s skill with near-Swinburnean sound effects . . .” — Len Krisak, Translation and Literature, Volume 18
(Len Krisak
Translation and Literature )
"Ruden''s version earns special praise for measuring up to the challenge set by Lattimore and Fagles and then going one better in her fidelity to the actual form of the poem, without sacrificing fidelity to the word to any greater extent than they. It deserves to be widely read and admired."--Joseph Farrell, Translation and Literature
(Joseph Farrell
Translation and Literature )
