Argonautica. Books I and II. Literary Study, Translation and Notes

Author

Ana Alexandra Alves de Sousa

Synopsis

This translation fills a serious lack in the literary panorama and has the particularity of allowing the reader to identify lines of reading. In fact, the poet builds with Argonautica’s lemmas, almost as many as those of Odyssey, meanings that easily go unnoticed by the current reader, secluded from the original by the linguistic barrier.
This translation is the first one done with the concern of keeping the lemmas recognizable. We want the contemporary reader to identify, as the Alexandrian reader, the parallels with other episodes within the poem, the subtle evocations of characters and moments.
In the notes we clarify the most difficult passages and we also identify some of the work done with the sources, especially the Homeric.
In the introduction we integrate the poet in his time and we analyse the invocation and the ecphrasis of Jason’s mantle. All the places on the outward journey also deserve comment, since from them there are several paths leading to the story, to Alexandrian literary aesthetics and to the History itself.

Publication Date

25 March, 2021

Available at Classica Digitalia Series