The Fables of Avianus - Hardcover

Slavitt, Mr. David R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801846846 ISBN 13: 9780801846847

Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993

Synopsis

The complete works of the early fifth-century Roman writer 42 elegiac fables are rendered into contemporary English verse by noted poet, translator, critic, and journalist Slavitt. The volume also features four new illustrations by artist Neil Welliver. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

About this title

About the Author

David R. Slavitt, poet, novelist, critic, and journalist, has published more than fifty books. His translations include the Metamorphoses of Ovid, The Fables of Avianus, the & quot;Eclogues& quot; and & quot;Georgics& quot; of Virgil, and Seneca: The Tragedies, Vols. 1 and 2, all available from Johns Hopkins.

Reviews

Slavitt, translator of Seneca, Ovid and Virgil, here translates 42 fables by the fifth-century Roman writer Avianus into contemporary (perhaps too contemporary) English. A fabulist in the Aesopic tradition, Avianus interpreted such familiar fables as those of the oak and the reed. His translator here admits having first been attracted to Avianus as "a decadent, bumbling fabulist, whose work I could do with one hand tied behind my back." Later, Slavitt came to appreciate the poet's playfulness. Avianus's view of human nature is dark, if not cynical; the fables about animals are more often parables of humanity's greed, cruelty, vanity and stupidity than of its wisdom. In his introduction, Jack Zipes praises Slavitt for his rather free translations ("All the world's dog-chow piled into a dish /cannot begin to assuage the spirit's essential hungers"), claiming that "it is because of Slavitt's poetic license that Avianus can now be appreciated as a 'contemporary' commentator on the 'postmodern condition.' " But the effort to turn Avianus into a postmodern critic can be ill-advised--as in a rendering of "The Fish and the Lamprey" that concludes with a reference to Charlie the Tuna.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Slavitt, a poet and accomplished translator, offers free, witty, and elegant verse interpretations of all 42 Latin elegiac fables by the once-renowned Avianus (c. A.D. 400-430). A pagan witnessing the triumph of Christendom, Avianus directs his sharp gaze at human weakness (sometimes in animal guise); but he is neither bitter nor unsympathetic. His ironies are enhanced by Slavitt's droll humor and the occasional anachronistic allusion. Some fables will be familiar in outline from other incarnations (e.g., "The Wind and the Sun," "The Goose That Laid Golden Eggs," "The Pine and the Bramble Bush"). Many are entirely new to modern readers, however, and all are made original by their clever vernacular style and outlook. More sophisticated and cynical than Aesop, Avianus probes beneath received wisdom to turn up some unexpected morals. Even younger readers might appreciate these "fables with an attitude," graced by impeccable dress and manners.
- Patricia Dooley, MLS, Seattle
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801846846
• ISBN 13: 9780801846847
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 80