Ancient Literature Discussion (History, Myth, Philosophy &c.)

[Christemo]

Do we have a philosophy thread, yet? I guess we could expand this to include that if there's interest in it

I think we should just turn this thread into "Discussion of Mythology/History/Old fiction/Philosophy/things related to that goes here"

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Philosophy is great too like Jungian

My grandfather actually gave me a Jung book on humanity's symbols a while back; Should I check it out?

[SeiKeo]

Jung in 2015 is far more applicable as lit crit than as any kind of real psychology.

[Dullahan]

I have been reading Knut Hamsun's account of his 1903 trip to the Caucasus as part of my dissertation research. He's fucking hilarious. Shame about the whole Nazi-sympathiser thing.

[Christemo]

I have been reading Knut Hamsun's account of his 1903 trip to the Caucasus as part of my dissertation research. He's fucking hilarious. Shame about the whole Nazi-sympathiser thing.

Sounds rad, do tell more.

[Dullahan]

To give an example. My favourite part comes from when he's in Baku, being given a tour of a dye factory somewhere in Black Town. Thing is, he's writing the account of it some time after the tour, so all he has to go on other than his memory are some hastily-scribbled notes he made while being shown around by an engineer. But the notes he made are all very terse and all but incomprehensible outside their immediate context, so a lot of his account is him talking about notes that say things like "161 indigo" with commentary like "I've no idea what the hell I was thinking when I wrote that. One-sixty-one indigo? What does that mean?"

I realise that doesn't sound that funny, but believe me, Hamsun (+his translator) pulls it off.

It is also the only travelogue I've ever read that's in present tense.

[Christemo]

That sounds like my kind of notes.

[Peanut-007]

If you want a resource for medieval to ancient Celtic mythology and writings this is the single best site I've ever found.

http://www.maryjones.us/index.html

[2Bad]

I see some people talking about various things being "dry," but I say you motherfuckers don't know dry until you've read or listened to The Histories.

[Five_X]

Dryness is often a result of translation, not the original text.

The Histories can be dry, but it can also be as amazingly ridiculous as it deserves to be, like an old man telling wild stories of his youth to naive grandchildren.

[Mattias]

Question: I saw a nicely bound copy of Tolkien's Beowulf translation at a bookstore recently. How's that version hold up, and if terrible, what/who's should I look for?

[Dullahan]

Read Gore Vidal's Creation then. There's a lot of slagging-off directed Herodotus' way.

[2Bad]

Dryness is often a result of translation, not the original text.

The Histories can be dry, but it can also be as amazingly ridiculous as it deserves to be, like an old man telling wild stories of his youth to naive grandchildren.

Audible has a pretty good audiobook version by this old British guy who delivers the whole thing at near deadpan levels, which when Herodotus starts gong off the rails is amazing.

[Dullahan]

"Herodotus will now do the Brothers Karamazov thing where the narrator somehow knows things that happen in circumstances which directly preclude anyone from possibly knowing."

[Five_X]

Read Gore Vidal's Creation then. There's a lot of slagging-off directed Herodotus' way.

Keeping in mind that Creation is not a, uh, precisely historical story in itself. That's not really its point.

[Dullahan]

Keeping in mind that Creation is not a, uh, precisely historical story in itself. That's not really its point.

I could have told him to read Thucydides, who gets a rather sly jab in at Herodotus at 1.21 or 1.22 IIRC, but honestly Creation is just way more fun, and I will push it at any opportunity.

[Lycodrake]

Theoi is a pretty good resource for those interested in translations of Greek myths and legends.
Includes some bestiary stuff, which is neat.

I forget if it was Theoi or somewhere else, but the fight between Ares and Athena, in relation to Herakles' battle with Cygnus iirc, is pretty great.

[Kelnish]

Wikipedia has information on all the myths and all the legends. Pretty much one stop shop for all internet arguments, really.

[Peanut-007]

Wikipedia has information on all the myths and all the legends. Pretty much one stop shop for all internet arguments, really.

Kelnish, it physically hurts me that you think Wikipedia is the best source for this kind of stuff when you could read the originals for free.

[Peanut-007]

You can but it's almost always more fun and informative to read the original legends instead of just summaries of them.

[SeiKeo]

There is no such thing as reading the original legends. Aside from extremely singular works, such as said Iliad, these things aren't actually written down or represent just a small part of a larger tradition.