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Synopsis
Constantine Cavafy is considered the greatest of modern Greek poets. His poems treat historical, philosophical, and erotic themes, sometimes altogether, and share a unique voice.This volume includes a fresh translation by noted classical scholar Alan Boegehold, a translation that captures the style as well as the meaning of the Greek, and a foreword discussing Cavafy's distinctive values.
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Review
There are many English translations of the work of the Alexandrian Greek poet C.P. Cavafy (1863−1933), and the coincidence of two recent translations, one much discussed and one more obscure, illustrates why.
Famous for his poems of erotic longing and regret, Cavafy writes about the Greek past as if it were a personal memory, as indeed it was for he made it so. We see this in his poems about Julian (Roman emperor, born in 361 BC in Constantinople, the half-brother of Constantine the Great). Called The Apostate, Julian, raised a Christian, converted and cracked down on the paganism of contemporary Christians in Antioch. As historian Glenn Bowersock has written in his indispensable From Gibbon to Auden: Essays on the Classical Tradition (Oxford, 240 pages, $45), Antioch "with its traditional style of life was the kind of city in which he longed to live"--for in his own day, homosexuality remained a scandal and a crime.
Even with Bowersock's help, reading Cavafy is a personal thing. Take the new translations by Daniel Mendelsohn in two volumes: C. P. Cavafy: Collected Poems (Knopf, 547 pages, $35) and C. P. Cavafy: The Unfinished Poems (Knopf 119 pages $30). Mendelsohn attempts to render the complex stylistic mix of the original, and, within the parameters set by English, may be felt to do so. "Julian and the Antiochenes" opens:
"Was it ever possible for them to give up / their beautiful way of life; the rich array / of their daily entertainments; their glorious / theatre where was born a union of Art / and the erotic predilections of the flesh!"
Compare this to the translation by Alan L. Boegehold in Cavafy: 166 Poems (Axios Press, 240 pages, $18):
"Was it possible ever for them to disown / their beautiful life, their mix / of daily entertainments / their luminous / theatre where Art joined / the erotic tendencies of flesh?" Boegehold's versions startle one with a tough lyric fierceness as well as wisdom; his Cavafy is indeed "something precious and real."
Through a mixture of Latinate and Germanic−root words, both translators attempt the rich diction of the original Greek. Mendelsohn's longer line allows the stanza to breath a little easier in keeping with the luxurious topic. Behind the difference, however, is interpretation. Reading Cavafy in these translations is profoundly personal and ultimately rewarding. In his poems, the presense of Cavafy's past--and it goes back centuries--is positively Proustian. --Providence (RI) Journal Bulletin, August 28, 2009
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Cavafy: 166 Poems: Translated with an Introduction by Alan L. Boegehold
Published by
Axios Press, Mount Jackson, VA, 2008
ISBN 10: 1604190051
ISBN 13: 9781604190052
Used
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Seller: Daedalus Books, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. A nice, crisp copy. ; 8.0 X 5.2 X 1.1 inches; 240 pages. Seller Inventory # 310399
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Cavafy: 166 Poems: Translated with an Introduction by Alan L. Boegehold
Seller: The Anthropologists Closet, Des Moines, IA, U.S.A.
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Hardcover. Condition: Like New. Dust Jacket Condition: Like New. ***Inscribed by the Author*** Black cloth hardcover with gilt lettering to spine in a like new dust jacket. Dust jacket has minor scuffing. 8vo. (5.65 x 0.92 x 8.43 inches) Text is free of marks or underlining. Author's signature and inscription to the late Professor Peter Green on the half-title page. 240 pp. Fast shipping in a secure book box mailer with tracking. Constantine Cavafy is considered the greatest of modern Greek poets. His poems treat historical, philosophical, and erotic themes, sometimes altogether, and share a unique voice.This volume includes a fresh translation by noted classical scholar Alan Boegehold, a translation that captures the style as well as the meaning of the Greek, and a foreword discussing Cavafy's distinctive values. Constantine Cavafy was the most improbable [and] remains among the greatest of modern Greek poets. "He wore a straw hat and stood at an angle to the uni-verse," said E.M. Forster. Deceptively simple and with hardly a metaphor in sight, Cavafy's poetry nevertheless presents an enormous challenge to any modern translator. Alan Boege-hold has several rare advantages for the task. He is a fine classicist, to whom Cavafy's forays into the Hellenistic and Byzantine past present no problems. His familiarity with the Greek language, both ancient and modern, makes him sensitive to subtle nuances that many would miss (no accident that he's an expert on Greek gestures). From the Foreword. Seller Inventory # 202237
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Cavafy: 166 Poems.
Published by
Axios Press,, Mount Jackson:, 2008
ISBN 10: 1604190051
ISBN 13: 9781604190052
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Grendel Books, ABAA/ILAB, Springfield, MA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. Translated from the Greek with an introduction by Alan L. Boegehold. First edition thus. INSCRIBED by the translator to a previous owner in 2009. Handwritten invitation to the translators publication party is laid in. Slight spine slant, else near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Seller Inventory # 101503
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Cavafy: 166 Poems. Translated with an Introduction by Alan L. Boegehold.
Seller: Fundus-Online GbR Borkert Schwarz Zerfaß, Berlin, Germany
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Sehr gut. XX, 240 p. From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - Slightly rubbed, overall very good and clean. / Leicht berieben, insgesamt sehr gut und sauber. - Constantine Cavafy was the most improbable [and] remains among the greatest of modern Greek poets. "He wore a straw hat and stood at an angle to the universe," said E.M. Forster. Deceptively simple and with hardly a metaphor in sight, Cavafy's poetry nevertheless presents an enormous challenge to any modern translator. Alan Boegehold has several rare advantages for the task. He is a fine classicist, to whom Cavafy's forays into the Hellenistic and Byzantine past present no problems. His familiarity with the Greek language, both ancient and modern, makes him sensitive to subtle nuances that many would miss (no accident that he's an expert on Greek gestures). - Alan Lindley Boegehold took his A.B. in Latin at the University of Michigan in 1950 and his Ph.D. in Classical Philology at Harvard University in 1958. He taught Latin and Greek mostly at Brown University (1960-2001), but he began at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and taught from time to time as a visitor at Harvard, Yale, the University of California at Berkeley, Amherst College, and Florida State University. In exploring the world of Classical antiquity, he has tried to use language, literature, philosophy, the structures of justice, and all material culture as ways to understanding. His most recent books are When a Gesture Was Expected (Princeton University Press, 1999), The Lawcourts at Athens, vol. 28 of the Athenian Agora series (The American School at Athens, 1995), and In Simple Clothes: Eleven Poems by Constantine Cavafy (Occasional Works, 1992.) Boegehold came to an appreciation of modern Greek literature by way of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, a graduate research institute affiliated with over 150 leading American colleges and universities, where he has been a professor in residence and chairman of the Managing Committee. ISBN 9781604190052 Sprache: Englisch Gewicht in Gramm: 450 Original hardcover with dust jacket. Seller Inventory # 1194872
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