Lucretius Book Study Group (SASA)

Looks like a well organized and well funded group.

Kenneth Connally

english.ucdavis.edu

Looks like this might be the scholar hosting it? Maybe?

What exactly is a "text-in-translation" reading group? Is that a specific way of saying that they'll be reading it in English?

When I search for "text-in-translation" I am finding a few common points across the sources:

• A translated text is a hybrid text, and is as much the product of the life-world of the translator as it is of the original writer.
• A text-in-translation analysis will examine the choices made by the translator, and how those choices affect the appreciation of the source text an of the hybrid text.
• There are three text types:
  • Informative – 'plain' style, topic foregrounded.
  • Expressive – elaborate style, sender foregrounded.
  • Vocative – to induce a receiver's behaviour.
• Possibly some level of comparing translations.

While this is the kind of thing we do around here all the time, I have never heard it labeled as a particular discipline or approach to reading translations. I could also be wrong about all of that.

I'm just hoping that one isn't required to know Latin to participate Not being a scholar, and all.

It does sound like it would have a lot of overlap with the podcast and the forum.

Quote from Godfrey

It does sound like it would have a lot of overlap with the podcast and the forum.

I just read the description on that site which says:

Quote

About the Event

We will read the great didactic epic De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things) in which the ancient Roman poet Lucretius explains the key ideas of Epicureanism, from the construction of the universe out of atoms and void to the evolution of human society and the best way of living so as to avoid pain and maximize pleasure. Along with

discussing the poem's provocative ideas, we will also consider their revolutionary impact on early modern science, philosophy, and art when a single manuscript of this long-lost poem was miraculously rediscovered in the fifteenth century. Participants will gain an appreciation for one of the most beautiful works of Latin literature; an understanding of the philosophy of Epicurus and its impact on the development of modern science and philosophy; and a chance to think through profound issues, like how we can know about the world, how we can live a flourishing life, and what happens to us when we die, by engaging with a provocative set of philosophical arguments in a group.

 

Here is when it runs:

Tuesdays, 1pm ET - Starting June 13th, for 5 weeks, on Zoom.

I am thinking I may attend!