De Rerum Natura (Oxford Classical Texts) (Bks.1-6) (Latin Edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)Lucretius isn't an author most come across, but nevertheless the DE RERVM NATVRA is truly a classic. In it he explains his version of epicureanism, taken from Epicurus and tweaked by Lucretius himself. Don't think our word 'epicurean' and this epicureanism are the same thing: epicurean has taken on a set of meanings that usually aren't present in the early philosophy, or in Lucretius's laying-out of it. Epicureanism should appeal to moderns as a very scientific view of the universe (L. offers scientific explanations of natural phaenomena, and isn't afraid to suspend judgement), including early atomic theory. On the other hand, the poetry and storytelling are moving. It is philosophy rimmed with the honey of poetry (as Lucretius puts it himself). As per this edition, it's pricey, but well worth it to completely understand the poet. The book itself is handsome and just the right size, and layed out well. The commentary is actually useful, unlike so many classical commentaries. It's advanced, but doesn't neglect or take for granted too much. At the same time, it doesn't concentrate on matters with a specialistic or only tenuous connection to the poem. In all, this is the place to study Lucretius, and to read a beautiful poem containing a beautiful (because thoughtful and insightful) philosophy.

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The De Rerum Natura of Lucretius is a sustained and impassioned protest against religious superstition and irrationality. The poem takes the form of a detailed exposition of Epicurean physical theory - an extreme materialism designed to remove and discredit popular fears of the gods, death and an afterlife. Book III is generally accepted to be the finest in the whole poem; Lucretius argues there that the soul is as mortal as the body and shows that human response to the fact of mortality and death can be at once rational, dignified and liberating. Professor Kenney's commentary is the first to give proper critical emphasis to the techniques and intentions of Lucretius' poetry; it can be read with profit by all students of Latin from senior school level upwards.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Voyeur Review

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(More customer reviews)I love words, but don't often read poetry these days (after my affairs with Dorothy Parker and Edna St. Vincent Millay back in college). After reading Voyeur, I am compelled to write my first review on Amazon. These poems are largely about women, relationships, and power. They are thought-provoking and provocative. I had to read them several times -- firstly, out loud to hear the words trip over themselves; secondly, to attempt an understanding; and lastly, to determine what they mean only to me. Certain phrases really spoke to me and would surprise me by popping into my head throughout my day, like little pieces of hard candy that I would roll around on my tongue. Oh, there are so many, but I love the phrase "We sip our due from each other's shoes to free our mattress of sides" and the bon mot "A toast and traffic jam." I believe that great poetry challenges readers to learn more about themselves and provide insights not normally gained through our day to day lives. Having been personally surprised by these poems, this book achieves exactly that -- words, ideas, paradigms that pull you out of yourself and give you back something deeply personal at the same time. I highly recommend this book and hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

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Winner of the 2009 Los Angeles Book Festival Award for Poetry & Winner of the Gival Press Poetry Award --"Voyeur is a work of vision and virtuosity. Concerned with relationships, marriage, sex and power, the poetry is dense, rapid, dazzling, the voice commanding, and the speaker charismatic. Combining multifaceted imagery with sharply angled enjambments and jammed syntax, Rich Murphy creates poems that are like broken glass-beautiful, jagged, risky to handle. But even though they cut-or maybe because they cut-one can't resist picking up piece after piece. The poems are extraordinary as individuals, from the intriguing declarative first sentence of each down to its decisive, glistening last line. And as a collection, like 'a subtle song [that] travels / from ancient feet through hearts / to first breath in the world,' Voyeur is spectacular."-Richard Carr, judge for the Gival Press Poetry Award and author of Honey

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A. Persi Flacci et D. Iuni Iuuenalis Saturae (Oxford Classical Texts) Review

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(More customer reviews)A great book for collectors, if you are into latin classical books, this is must. An unusual book to have and great for those who like me enjoy building impressive libraries.

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Two highly influential writers of satirical poetry in the early Roman Empire, Persius and Juvenal are universally admired and enjoyed for the mordant wit and biting irony with which they exposed contemporary life and abuses under the notorious emperors Nero and Domitian. This new and revised edition--the first since the original publication in 1959--conveniently brings together both poets in a single volume, and contains, along with a freshly amended version of the text, a concise apparatus criticus at the foot of each page and a full Preface, giving a comprehensive overview of the state of the text in light of recent scholarship.

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The Bear Went Over the Mountain: A Novel (Owl Book) Review

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(More customer reviews)There's so much truth about the publishing world in this drop-dead-funny satire that it's a wonder the publishing world ever published it!
Outrageous premise of a man who writes The Great American Novel, loses the manuscript in the woods, and becomes so depressed that he goes into hibernation and becomes beast-like. The flip side of the equation, the part that makes this book a dangerous one to read in bed beside a sleeping mate, is that the manuscript is found by a bear who manages to sell it on a trip to New York. The bear is courted by NY's best and finest celebs, and he impresses reviewers, agents, and editors with his hyper-intelligent and deeply moving monosyllabic grunts and one-word responses to interview questions.
But the parts that'll make your trying-to-sleep spouse want to kill you are the love scenes between the bear and the object of his affection, a 'fur-bearing woman,' (a lady who doesn't shave her legs).
Don't miss it. Buy two, and give one to your favorite quirky friend.

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Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Latin edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a smooth and clever translation, perfect for the person who wants an enjoyable quick read to refurbish fluency in the language. The bright style of the original is preserved, and it is obvious that the translator has his own sense of humor as well, playing with words and phrasing without sacrificing accuracy. This book would make an excellent supplementary text for students at about second-year level.
I would like to see the other books in the series put into Latin, although I know that is too much to hope for; however, these books would be a wonderful study series if translated in accord with the level of the book in English, each becoming more complex.

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Latin translation of the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in which Harry Potter, a normal eleven-year-old boy, discovers that he is a wizard. Long ago, Harry's parents were killed in a battle with the evil Lord Voldemort. When we first meet Harry, he is living miserably with his repulsive and non-magical (or Muggle) Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon Dursley, and their even more revolting son, Dudley. Following a bizarre but hilarious chain of events, Harry finds himself at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with an outrageous cast of characters, including super-smart Hermione Granger, vile Draco Malfoy, sinister Professor Snape, and the wise Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Adventures galore ensue.

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Odes and Epodes (Loeb Classical Library) Review

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(More customer reviews)Very readable translation of Horace, good reading for a winter evening. The famous phrase carpe diem (seize the day or pluck the day) is from one of Horace's odes, in this book.

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The poetry of Horace (born 65 BCE) is richly varied, its focus moving between public and private concerns, urban and rural settings, Stoic and Epicurean thought. Here is a new Loeb Classical Library edition of the great Roman poet's Odes and Epodes, a fluid translation facing the Latin text.

Horace took pride in being the first Roman to write a body of lyric poetry. For models he turned to Greek lyric, especially to the poetry of Alcaeus, Sappho, and Pindar; but his poems are set in a Roman context. His four books of odes cover a wide range of moods and topics. Some are public poems, upholding the traditional values of courage, loyalty, and piety; and there are hymns to the gods. But most of the odes are on private themes: chiding or advising friends; speaking about love and amorous situations, often amusingly. Horace's seventeen epodes, which he called iambi, were also an innovation for Roman literature. Like the odes they were inspired by a Greek model: the seventh-century iambic poetry of Archilochus. Love and political concerns are frequent themes; here the tone is generally that of satirical lampoons. "In his language he is triumphantly adventurous," Quintilian said of Horace; this new translation reflects his different voices.

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