Kline

[Hawkwood]

Anyone heard good things of Anthony S Kline pertaining to his translations of Ovid's Metamorphosis? I'd like to come away from Ted Hughes' attempt if possible.

I'm thinking of buying a Kline copy off amazon for £13, only 3 reviews though so it's hard to know. Apparently he's quite close to the Latin (whatever that means) and it is in prose, that's all I know.

 

[AoM]

I consulted his translation of the Aeneid while translating Book II. I liked that it was more literal than others, but there were some parts I questioned.

I just now looked him up on Amazon. How in the world does he have the time to translate all of these works? lol

Here's the link to his translation of the Metamorphoses: http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Ovhome.htm

 

[Hawkwood]

It's hard to 'read' read on my phone, ideally thinking of buying the book. Could you briefly explain what you mean by literal please? I'm just wondering if he unpacks the clauses close to how the Latin reads, things of that nature, or this too hard an answer to give to a non-Latinist?

The translations I tend to read have a fair amount of poetic licence, Pope's Iliad, Hughes' Ovid etc. I just don't know what's poetic and what's literal.

Ta,

 

[AoM]

A small example from Book II of the Aeneid (428-9):

pereunt Hypanisque Dymasque
confixi a sociis

Kline: "Hypanis and Dymas die at the hands of allies"
Literal: "Both Hypanis and Dymas die, stabbed by allies"

Obviously Kline gets the sense, but why he strayed from Virgil's actual words here is beyond me (assuming this isn't in some sort of meter). Overall, however, he stays closer to the Latin than most. I haven't read any other translations of his, though.

 

[Hawkwood]

I'm going for Kline then, thanks, mate.