Slavitt's] sentences are so unburdened by the trivial or any kind of distraction, so transparent, that it would be too gross even to say that they are like angels in the sky. Because they don't just hang around in the sky like angels; they are the sky. They are not merely fluent, though fluency is hard to come by and something to be treasured; they flow as unhaltingly as a creek or waterfall. If I compare Slavitt's sentences to natural phenomena, it may be because he himself is rather a natural phenomenon: a man who writes easily, copiously, and beautifully. Kelly cherry, author of A Kind of Dream He is an extraordinarily learned writer, intimate with the best literature of the Western tradition from the poets of the Greek Anthology to the contemporary poets whose translations he has edited for the Pennsylvania series of Greek tragedies and comedies. None of it is lost on him. The great works have worked upon him, and this is one of his means of achieving greatness. Daniel Mark Epstein, author of The Ballad of Bob Dylan The name of David R. Slavitt may not yet be one to conjure with in literary circles, although if he were a magician, let's say, or a juggler, his skill in keeping so many poems, novels, translations, and other works in the air would have drawn gasps of astonishment and awe, as he added title upon title until he has now tossed out for our enjoyment over 100 books. John M. Ridland, author of Fires of Home Slavitt is a master satirist, whose elegant, irreverent prose is full of witty quotations that we want to read aloud to friends. Philadelphia Inquirer

This is a glittering new translation of the portion of the Hebrew Bible known as the Book of the Twelve Prophets, or the Twelve "Minor" Prophets. In the Bible, the books of the prophets are arranged in rough order of length. The present group of writings thus appears after the so-called "major" prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel), and includes the much shorter texts of Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. At the time when all biblical books were written on scrolls, these twelve brief prophetic texts were traditionally written on a single scroll, and so came to be considered a single book. "Minor" with respect to length only, they are from the literary point of view some of the most interesting texts in the Bible -- passionate, visionary, and written with genuine literary sophistication. David Slavitt's brilliant modern translation breathes fresh life into these powerful ancient texts.

La Vita Nuova (1292-94) has many aspects. Dante's libello, or "little book," is most obviously a book about love. In a sequence of thirty-one poems, the author recounts his love of Beatrice from his first sight of her (when he was nine and she eight), through unrequited love and chance encounters, to his profound grief sixteen years later at her sudden and unexpected death. Linked with Dante's verse are commentaries on the individual poems-their form and meaning-as well as the events and feelings from which they originate. Through these commentaries the poet comes to see romantic love as the first step in a spiritual journey that leads to salvation and the capacity for divine love. He aims to reside with Beatrice among the stars. David Slavitt gives us a readable and appealing translation of one of the early, defining masterpieces of European literature, animating its verse and prose with a fluid, lively, and engaging idiom and rhythm. His translation makes this first major book of Dante's stand out as a powerful work of art in its own regard, independent of its "junior" status to La Commedia. In an Introduction, Seth Lerer considers Dante as a poet of civic life. "Beatrice," he reminds us, "lives as much on city streets and open congregations as she does in bedroom fantasies and dreams."

The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander. This volume includes translations Deborah H. Roberts (Ion), J. T. Barbarese (Children of Heracles), Katharine Washburn and David Curzon (The Madness of Heracles), Carolyn Kizer (Iphigenia in Tauris), and Greg Delanty (Orestes).

"Despite the resurgence of interest in the field of late antiquity, there are still too few authors from the period available in translation--and of the few who are translated, most, like Ausonius, are available only in arcane and unreadable English. Ausonius is one of the more accessible late antique writers, and Slavitt's choice of texts to translate reflects his accessibility--the "Cento" gives us a taste of Ausonius's bizarre sense of humor, and the "Commemorations" gives us a glimpse into his personal network of friends, teachers, and relatives, and into the everyday life of a wealthy provincial city. Slavitt's translations are simple, direct, often very funny, and sometimes moving. His "Cento" is a tour de force recreation."--Martha Malamud, editor, "Arethusa" Ausonius, the most famous of the learned poets active in the second half of the fourth century, was born at Bordeaux and taught school there for 30 years before being summoned to court to teach the future emperor Gratian. He subsequently held important public offices, returning to Bordeaux and private life after Gratian's death in 383. The subjects of many of his poems are typical of the academic world of the time. His "Commemorations of the Professors of Bordeaux," a sequence of light verse obituaries of local teachers, in which people are honored--or gossiped about--in their daily occupations, has been called an illustrious poetic precedent to Edgar Lee Masters's "Spoon River Anthology." To a literary verse translation of the "Commemorations" David Slavitt has added versions of Ausonius's "Nuptial Cento," assembled from snippets of Shakespeare (Ausonius's original is a pastiche of Virgil), and selected epigrams. "Skill, wit, learning, poetic dexterity, and flabbergasting irreverence--very Ausonian, very amusing and impressive too."--"Classical Review" David R. Slavitt has published more than sixty books: original poetry, translations (recently "Broken Columns," of Statius and Claudian, available from the University of Pennsylvania Press), novels, critical works, and short stories. He worked for seven years as a journalist at "Newsweek" and continues to do freelance reporting and reviewing. With Palmer Bovie he coedited the Complete Roman Drama in Translation series and the Penn Greek Drama Series. Also of interest: "Epinician Odes and Dithyrambs of Bacchylides" Translated by David R. Slavitt

The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander.

The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander.

Epinician Odes and Dithyrambs of Bacchylides Translated by David R. Slavitt "Slavitt has an astonishing knack for making classical poetry readable and, above all, experienceable. . . . He] seems to have a free and easy--and very personal--conversance with the ancient world, and this is refreshing indeed; it makes that whole world available to us in ways it has not been before. . . . He has such an easy, tolerant, believable relationship with the ancient world and its authors that making the changeover from that world to ours is less a leap than an enjoyable stroll."--James Dickey Until a century ago, the fifth-century Greek poet Bacchylides was known only by 107 nonsequential lines buried as quotations in the writings of other ancient authors. With the discovery in 1896 of a papyrus containing his work, 1,382 lines were reassembled and the poems of Bacchylides finally began to take shape for the modern reader. Slavitt argues in the Introduction to this collection that, although Bacchylides is often considered a "lesser Pindar," he is a poet who warrants consideration. "He deserves attention not because he is beetling, like Pindar, but because he is not. He relies on craftsmanship and reliably displays an attractive grace and elegance." David R. Slavitt was educated at Andover and Yale and has published more than seventy books: original poetry, translations, novels, critical works, and short stories. He worked for seven years as a journalist at "Newsweek" and continues to do freelance reporting and reviewing. With Palmer Bovie he coedited the Penn Greek Drama series and the Complete Roman Drama in Translation. 1998 104 pages 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 ISBN 978-0-8122-3447-3 Cloth $29.95s 19.50 World Rights Classics

The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander. This volume includes translations by Fred Chappell (Alcestis), Mark Rudman and Katharine Washburn (Daughters of Troy), Richard Elman (The Phoenician Women), Elaine Terranova (Iphigenia at Aulis), and George Economou (Rhesus).

The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander. "A boon for classicists and general readers alike. For the reader who comes to tragedy for the first time, these translations are eminently 'accessible.'. . . For the classicist, these versions constitute an ambitious reinterpretation of traditional masterpieces."--"Boston Book Review" "A speakable version of Sophocles's 'Philoctetes': as it were, after 25 years, a sequel to Pound's 'The Women of Trachis'." --Hugh Kenner, "New York Times Book Review" "A two-year project to publish the corpus of classical Greek drama in translations by an impressive array of contemporary poets. It may not be long before anyone who mentions that he is reading Sophocles in Greek can expect to be told, 'Oh, but you simply "must' read it in translation.'"--"New Yorker" "Don't look for the wild and woolly--these were put together by wordsmiths. . . . But they are a far cry from some of the stodgier translations."--"Washington Post" "The 12-volume set will offer readers new verse translations of the complete surviving tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, as well as the surviving comedies of Aristophanes and Menander. The complete line of Greek theater classics has not been offered to readers since 1938."--"Publishers Weekly"

The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander. The translations in this volume are by Sheila D'Atri, Palmer Bovie, and Richard Elman.

The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander. Aristophanes wrote most of his comedic masterpieces during the Peloponnesian War, parodying the tumultuous politics and society of that time with trademark innuendoes and bawdy stagings and dialogue. In these plays, Aristophanes brings every rhetorical strategem into play to treat the reader to stories of one man's attempt to create a "war-free zone," the rescue of the imprisoned Peace on the back of a giant dung beetle, a satire of Euripides's sympathies for women, and the hustling and healing of a blind and destitute Wealth in order to redistribute the world's riches. Translations are by Jack Flavin (Acharnians), Fred Beake (Peace), David Slavitt (Celebrating Ladies), and Palmer Bovie (Wealth). The volume includes an introduction by Ralph Rosen, Professor of Classics at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander. This volume presents fresh versions of Sophocles's Theban plays, which include the most famous of the ancient Greek tragedies, King Oedipus. Sophocles reveals the history of Oedipus from the fulfillment of the oracle that foretold he would kill his father, outwit the Sphinx, marry his mother, and have a family, through his banishment and tortured death as a blind man and the attempted redemption of the family by his daughter, Antigone. Translations are by Jascha Kessler (King Oedipus), George Garrett (Oedipus at Colonus), and Kelly Cherry (Antigone).

The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander. This final volume of the tragedies of Aeschylus relates the historic defeat and dissolution of the Persian Empire on the heels of Xerxes disastrous campaign to subdue Greece, the struggle between the two sons of Oedipus for the throne of Thebes, the story of fifty daughters who seek asylum from their uncle, the king of Egypt, because of his demand that they marry his sons, and the well-known tale of the proud and unrepentant Prometheus, who is chained to a massive rock for revealing fire and hope to humankind. Translations are by David Slavitt (Persians), Stephen Sandy (Seven Against Thebes), Gail Holst-Warhaft (The Suppliants), and William Matthews (Prometheus Bound).

The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander.This volume includes translations by Eleanor Wilner with Ines Azar (Medea), Marilyn Nelson ("Hecuba"), Donald Junkins ("Andromache"), and Daniel Mark Epstein ("The Bacchae").

From the Penn Greek Drama Series, this volume offers translations by David Slavitt of the great trilogy of the House of Atreus, telling of Agamemnon's murder at the hands of his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus, and of Electra's rebelliousness and Orestes's ultimate revenge.

The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander. This volume includes translations by Richard Moore (Hippolytus), John Frederick Nims (Suppliant Women), Rachel Hadas (Helen), Elizabeth Seydel Morgan (Electra), and Palmer Bovie (Cyclops).

Broken Columns Two Roman Epic Fragments: "The Achilleid" of Publius Papinius Statius and "The Rape of Proserpine" of Claudius Claudianus Edited and Translated by David R. Slavitt. Afterword by David Konstan "With unerring instinct Slavitt has juxtaposed two witty and ironic post-Ovidian tales of coming of age, Statius's unfinished "Deeds of Achilles" and Claudian's "Rape of Proserpina." Those were the mythical days when teenagers were charming and rape consensual (for Deidamia) or at least (for Proserpina) the path to queenly power. Epic was never the same after Ovid, whether in Statius's sentimental comedy of love and war or in Claudian's darker divine intrigue sacrificing a mother's love to avert an infernal coup d'etat. Slavitt's versatile idiom makes vivid the personalities of Statius's drama and updates Claudian's self-conscious poetics in versions that are both free and true to the poets' art."--Elaine Fantham, Princeton University "Slavitt does a real service by putting into English verse for the first time this century two poems of great grace and charm. . . . Konstan's afterword itself is a gem. . . . I would urge anyone who thinks that Statius only wrote gruesome epic and Claudian only dull panegyric to read this slim and sprightly volume."--"Bryn Mawr Classical Review" "David Slavitt appears to be fluent not only in Latin but also in hexameters. His translation seems to flow effortlessly from his pen. His speech and vocabulary are contemporary and easy to read. . . . This slim volume is further enhanced by the brilliant essay by David Konstan that is appended to it. The essay is reminiscent of the introductions written by R. C. Jebb in his editions of the plays of Sophocles--a combination of a scholarly discussion of the underlying myth in the text interspersed with perceptive literary criticism."--"American Book Review" There is more to classical literature than just the classics. Here David Slavitt expands the canon by presenting vivid, graceful, and amusing translations of two neglected fragmentary works of Latin literature. The first is Publius Papinius Statius's first-century epic "Achilleid," an extraordinary fusion of epic and New Comedy sentiments and humor that may represent the earliest literary imagining of the charm of adolescence. It relates the story of the education of Achilles under the centaur Chiron, his adopting the disguise of a girl during his sojourn at the court of Lycomedes in Scyros, his love affair with Deidamia, his detection by Ulysses and Diomedes, and his departure for Troy. The second work is Claudius Claudianus's unfinished fourth-century epic version of the rape of Proserpine. The two works together make a delightful pair. The afterword by David Konstan explores the traditions in which--and against which--Statius and Claudian composed their versions of these well-known stories. David R. Slavitt was educated at Andover and Yale and has published dozens of books: original poetry, translations, novels, critical works, and short stories. He worked for seven years as a journalist at "Newsweek" and continues to do freelance reporting and reviewing. With Palmer Bovie he coedited the Penn Greek Drama series and the Complete Roman Drama in Translation. 1997 104 pages 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 ISBN 978-0-8122-1630-1 Paper $21.95s 14.50 World Rights Classics, Literature Short copy: I would urge anyone who thinks that Statius only wrote gruesome epic and Claudian only dull panegyric to read this slim and sprightly volume."--"Bryn Mawr Classical Review"

These delightful poems - by turns whimsical, beautiful, and vulgar - seem to have primarily survived because they were attributed to Virgil. But in David R. Slavitt's imaginative and appealing translations, they stand firmly on their own merits. Slavitt brings to this little-known body of verse a fresh voice, vividly capturing the tone and style of the originals while conveying a lively sense of fun.

Are there no limits to human cruelty? Is there any divine justice? Do the gods even matter if they do not occupy themselves with rewarding virtue and punishing wickedness? Seneca's plays might be dismissed as bombastic and extravagant answers to such questions--if so much of human history were not "Senecan" in its absurdity, melodrama, and terror. Here is an honest artist confronting the irrationality and cruelty of his world--the Rome of Caligula, Claudius, and Nero--and his art reflects the stress of the encounter. The surprise, perhaps, is that Seneca's world is so like our own.

"The works of Plautus," writes Palmer Bovie, "mark the real beginning of Roman literature." In these lively new translations, which effectively communicate the vitality and verve of the originals, the plays of Plautus are accessible to a new generation.

Plays and translators:

Volume 1: "Amphitryon, " Constance Carrier. "Miles Gloriosus, " Erich Segal. "Captivi, " Richard Moore. "Casina, " Richard Beacham. "Curculio, " Henry Taylor

Volume 2: "Rudens, " Constance Carrier. "Aulularia, " Palmer Bovie. "Bacchides, " James Tatum. "Mercator, " George Garrett. "Truculentus, " James Tatum

"The works of Plautus," writes Palmer Bovie, "mark the real beginning of Roman literature." Now Bovie and David Slavitt have brought together a distinguished group of translators for the final two volumes of a four-volume set containing all twenty-one surviving comedies of one of Western literature's greatest dramatists.

Born in Sarsina, Umbria, in 254 B.C., Plautus is said to have worked in Rome as a stage carpenter and later as a miller's helper. Whether authentic or not, these few details about the playwright's life are consistent with the image of him one might infer from his plays. Plautus was not "literary" but rather an energetic and resourceful man of the world who spoke the language of the people. His dramatic works were his way of describing and portraying that world in a language the people understood.

Since Plautus's career unfolded against the background of the Second Punic War, it is not surprising that his prologues often end with a wish for the audience's "good luck against your enemies" or that the plays have their share of arrogant generals, boastful military captains, and mercenary adventurers. But other unforgettable characters are here as well -- among them Euclio, in the Aulularia, the model for Molire's miser. In these lively new translations, which effectively communicate the vitality and verve of the originals, the plays of Plautus are accessible to a new generation.

Plays and translators:

Volume 4: Persa, Palmer Bovie. Menaechmi, Palmer Bovie. Cistellaria, R. H. W. Dillard. Pseudolus, Richard Beacham. Stichus, Carol Poster. Vidularia, John Wright.

Widely praised for his recent translations of Boethius and Ariosto, David R. Slavitt returns to Ovid, once again bringing to the contemporary ear the spirited, idiomatic, audacious charms of this master poet.

The love described here is the anguished, ruinous kind, for which Ovid was among the first to find expression. In the "Amores," he testifies to the male experience, and in the companion "Heroides" through a series of dramatic monologues addressed to absent lovers he imagines how love goes for women. You think she is ardent with you? So was she ardent with him, cries Oenone to Paris. Sappho, revisiting the forest where she lay with Phaon, sighs, The place / without your presence is just another place. / You were what made it magic. The "Remedia Amoris" sees love as a sickness, and offers curative advice: The beginning is your best chance to resist; Try to avoid onions, / imported or domestic. And arugula is bad. / Whatever may incline your body to Venus / keep away from. The voices of men and women produce a volley of extravagant laments over love s inconstancy and confusions, as though elegance and vigor of expression might compensate for heartache.

Though these love poems come to us across millennia, Slavitt s translations, introduced by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Dirda, ensure that their sentiments have not faded with the passage of time. They delight us with their wit, even as we weep a little in recognition.

First published in 8 A.D. when he was 52, Ovid's epic poem contains profoundly entertaining tales of Adonis, Midas, Apollo, Icarus, and many others. (Poetry)