The Latin Eclogues

by Giovanni Boccaccio, David R. Slavitt (Translator)

Overview

Giovanni Boccaccio is famous for his masterpiece The Decameron, but his Latin Eclogues are relatively unknown. David R. Slavitt’s English translation makes these important pieces accessible to a new audience of readers.

Elegant and engaging, these pastoral poems address the great issues of Boccaccio’s Italy, including the political and military intrigues of the day. Boccaccio modeled his poems on Petrarch’s eclogues and, before him, those of Virgil and Theocritus. Slavitt’s impeccable translations are highly readable, while his editorial interjections both elucidate the poet’s intended meaning and frame the poems for the reader.

These charming works offer wonderful insight into daily life in Renaissance Italy. A prolific and award-winning translator, Slavitt turns the Eclogues into vibrant modern English, capturing not only the words of Boccaccio but the flavor of the original language.

The availability of The Latin Eclogues in English is a major contribution to the study of the literature and history of the Italian Renaissance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801897498
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	05/03/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

David R. Slavitt—poet, novelist, critic, and journalist—has published more than fifty books. His translations include the Metamorphoses of Ovid; The Fables of Avianus; The Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil; The Book of Lamentations: A Meditation and Translation; and Seneca: The Tragedies, all published by Johns Hopkins.

David R. Slavitt is a poet, translator, novelist, critic, and journalist. He is author of more than seventy works of fiction, poetry, and poetry and drama in translation.

Table of Contents

Translator's Preface
I. Galla
II. Pampinea
III. Faunus
IV. Dorus
V. The Falling Forest
VI. Alcestus
VII. The Quarrel
VIII. Midas
IX. Anxiety
X. The Dark Valley
XI. Pantheon
XII. Saphos
XIII. The Laurel Wreath
XIV. Olympia
XV. Phylostropos
XVI. The Messenger

Editorial Reviews

Pastoral poems that reflect both the great issues, including the political and military intrigues, of Renaissance Italy, and the era's day-to-day life . . . A fluid and accessible translation.
—Toronto Globe and Mail

A welcome opportunity for new audiences to discover an obscure yet arguably more emblematic side to the author.
—Cristina Rios, Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher

A welcome opportunity for new audiences to discover an obscure yet arguably more emblematic side to the author.

Times Literary Supplement - Cristina Rios

Pastoral poems that reflect both the great issues, including the political and military intrigues, of Renaissance Italy, and the era's day-to-day life . . . A fluid and accessible translation.

Toronto Globe and Mail

A welcome opportunity for new audiences to discover an obscure yet arguably more emblematic side to the author.

— Cristina Rios

Times Literary Supplement