Harvard Book Store welcomes Scott McGill—Deedee McMurtry Professor in Humanities at Rice University—and Susannah Wright—assistant professor of classical studies and Roman history at Rice University—for a discussion of their new translation of The Aeneid by Virgil. They will be joined in conversation by Stephen Scully—Chair of the Department of Classical Studies at Boston University, who has translated Plato's Phaedrus, and Euripides' Suppliant Women.
About The Aeneid
Rome’s epic origin story, brilliantly rendered in a vivid, rhythmic idiom.
Crafted during the reign of Augustus Caesar at the outset of the Roman Empire, Virgil’s Aeneid is a tale of thrilling adventure, extreme adversity, doomed romance, fateful battles, and profound loss. Through its stirring account of human struggle, meddling gods, and conflicting destinies, the poem brings to life the triumphs and trials that led to one of the most powerful societies the world has ever known. Unlike its Homeric predecessors, which arose from a long oral tradition, the Aeneid was composed by a singular poetic genius, and it has ever since been celebrated as one of the greatest literary achievements of antiquity.
This exciting new edition of the Aeneid, the first collaborative translation of the poem in English, is rendered in unrhymed iambic pentameter, the English meter that corresponds best, in its history and cultural standing, to Virgil’s dactylic hexameter. Scott McGill and Susannah Wright achieve an ideal middle ground between readability and elevation, engaging modern readers with fresh, contemporary language in a heart-pounding, propulsive rhythm, while also preserving the epic dignity of the original. The result is a brisk, eminently approachable translation that captures Virgil’s sensitive balance between celebrating the Roman Empire and dramatizing its human costs, for victors and vanquished alike. This Aeneid is a poem in English every bit as complex, inviting, and affecting as the Latin original.
With a rich and informative introduction from Emily Wilson, maps drawn especially for this volume, a pronunciation glossary, genealogies, extensive notes, and helpful summaries of each book, this gorgeous edition of Rome’s founding poem will capture the imaginations and stir the souls of a new generation of readers.
Praise for The Aeneid
"A phenomenal achievement! Scott McGill and Susannah Wright offer an innovative and propulsive ‘foot-for-foot’ blank verse translation that brilliantly reproduces Virgil’s poetic effects and preserves the famed complexities of this monumental epic and the characters that inhabit it. Wilson’s engaging introduction places the Aeneid in its historical and literary contexts while poignantly articulating the enduring questions it still compels us to ponder." —Stephanie McCarter, University of the South, translator of Ovid’s Metamorphoses
"McGill and Wright have risen impressively to the challenge of marrying fidelity to Virgil’s Latin with a stylish English, offering the modern reader a middle path between accessibility and elevation. Their blank verse succeeds in cleverly conveying much of the imagery and sound effects of Virgil’s hexameters. A translation that will delight the poetry lover and student alike." —Philip Hardie, University of Cambridge, author of The Last Trojan Hero: A Cultural History of Virgil’s “Aeneid”
"This translation will be replacing my previous preferred version of the Aeneid. Susannah Wright and Scott McGill don’t just capture the words of the original poetry but its rhetorical structures and even, in places, its sounds. It’s particularly impressive that they manage to get so much over into English while sustaining a clarity and straightforwardness unparalleled among the recent renditions." —Aaron Poochigian, poet, classicist, and translator
Bios
Scott McGill is Deedee McMurtry Professor in Humanities at Rice University. He lives in Houston, Texas.
Susannah Wright is an assistant professor of classical studies and Roman history at Rice University. She lives in Houston, Texas.
Stephen Scully is Professor and Chair, Department of Classical Studies, Boston University. He has translated Plato's Phaedrus and (with Rosanna Warren), Euripides' Suppliant Women.
Masking Policy
Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.