Penguin Classics Metamorphoses [Paperback]

After reading the old Penguin edition of this work, I was amazed at the improvement in not only the translation, but the organization and supplemental material as well. The old edition I read was written in prose (yuck), the translation was was dry and boring, the text was not broken up into sections, and there were no notes to speak of. This edition, however, has really come a long way. The text has been translated into a more modern voice, making it much more user friendly and fun to read. And it's written in verse form (as is should be). The organization is top-notch: not only is it divided into "books", but is further divided into the individual stories with appropriate headings (like "Mars and Venus" and "Pyramus and Thisbe"), so it's easy to find your favorite myth and know where you are in the epic. There's also an excellent introduction to the entire work as well as introductions to each individual book, providing insights and background information. The notes in the back of the book are very comprehensive and helpful, adding greatly to your understanding of the work. On top of all that, there's a glossary of the characters in the back which not only tells you who they are, but where they are featured in the epic. And finally, as if there wasn't enough already, there's even a map in the back of Rome during Ovid's time. Needless to say, this edition is chock full of stuff to please both casual readers of the work and scholars looking to get a little more in-depth. I believe this is one of the most important and influential works of Western civilization, and everyone should have a copy. It's especially great for those who love Greek and Roman myths, since it's packed full of just about every classical myth ever conceived. And since it's broken down so nicely into individual stories and books, you can read a story here and there instead of the whole thing at once, if you choose. Though since all the stories are connected and flow seamlessly into one another, reading it through from beginning to end is very rewarding and highly recommended.

It's not like designers at Penguin Classics are lacking

the knowledge

Of how to handle hexameters. Why then their failure

to use it

In Raeburn's recent translation of Metamorphoses?

On an average page, there's barely three verses that's

typeset within

A single line, with all others continued with vast

indent--

And most roving over a single word. The pages are

ugly,

Everything awkward to read. The font size is generous,

though,

So why not reduce it a point and gather more verses

together?

Nor does it help that the poem is written in thumping

sub-Longfellow,

With all of the beats but now with just one third the

sonority--

Dietetically versed. Avoid this volume. Feh, and more

feh.

The inexplicably large number of positive reviews of this dire translation suggests that most readers are confusing it with the incomparably better blank verse version by Melville published in the Oxford World Classics edition. In the Penguin edition, Raeburn subordinates everything to the struggle to write hexameters in English. Why? The result is alien, ugly and unfaithful. Take the first line, where Melville conserves Ovid's first joke, namely starting an epic with a preposition, and incorporates the crucial Lucretian reference to bodies, in a line of elegant English verse. Raeburn fails on all counts. Read no further!