The Paths of Survival

The Paths of Survival explores the fragility of the written word; the ways in which it is destroyed and the ways in which, by each fresh miracle, it endures against all the odds. Tracing the few surviving fragments of Aeschylus's lost tragedy, Myrmidons, which notoriously depicted the doomed love of the Greek hero Achilles for his fellow warrior Patroclus, the volume moves backwards in time across two and a half millennia; from a tiny scrap of papyrus in a present-day Oxford library to the dying Aeschylus revising his masterpiece in fifth-century BCE Sicily. Along the way, the poems' dramatic monologues introduce clerks and conquerors, pagans and popes, tyrants and tricksters, as well as translators, anthologists, editors, librarians - and, of course, readers - as each one responds to the text, transforming and perverting it, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unwittingly, for better, for worse, but always with passion. Poignant and, in our own times of cultural conflict, pertinent, The Paths of Survival unravels the intricate serendipity of what time corrodes and what it spares'

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The Paths of Survival

The Paths of Survival explores the fragility of the written word; the ways in which it is destroyed and the ways in which, by each fresh miracle, it endures against all the odds. Tracing the few surviving fragments of Aeschylus's lost tragedy, Myrmidons, which notoriously depicted the doomed love of the Greek hero Achilles for his fellow warrior Patroclus, the volume moves backwards in time across two and a half millennia; from a tiny scrap of papyrus in a present-day Oxford library to the dying Aeschylus revising his masterpiece in fifth-century BCE Sicily. Along the way, the poems' dramatic monologues introduce clerks and conquerors, pagans and popes, tyrants and tricksters, as well as translators, anthologists, editors, librarians - and, of course, readers - as each one responds to the text, transforming and perverting it, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unwittingly, for better, for worse, but always with passion. Poignant and, in our own times of cultural conflict, pertinent, The Paths of Survival unravels the intricate serendipity of what time corrodes and what it spares'

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The Paths of Survival

The Paths of Survival

by Josephine Balmer
The Paths of Survival

The Paths of Survival

by Josephine Balmer

Overview

The Paths of Survival explores the fragility of the written word; the ways in which it is destroyed and the ways in which, by each fresh miracle, it endures against all the odds. Tracing the few surviving fragments of Aeschylus's lost tragedy, Myrmidons, which notoriously depicted the doomed love of the Greek hero Achilles for his fellow warrior Patroclus, the volume moves backwards in time across two and a half millennia; from a tiny scrap of papyrus in a present-day Oxford library to the dying Aeschylus revising his masterpiece in fifth-century BCE Sicily. Along the way, the poems' dramatic monologues introduce clerks and conquerors, pagans and popes, tyrants and tricksters, as well as translators, anthologists, editors, librarians - and, of course, readers - as each one responds to the text, transforming and perverting it, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unwittingly, for better, for worse, but always with passion. Poignant and, in our own times of cultural conflict, pertinent, The Paths of Survival unravels the intricate serendipity of what time corrodes and what it spares'

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781848615298
Publisher: Shearsman Books
Publication date: 04/07/2017
Pages: 94
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.23(d)

About the Author

Josephine Balmer's collections include The Word for Sorrow (2009 & 2013) and Chasing Catullus: Poems, Translations & Transgressions (2004). Her translations include Catullus: Poems of Love and Hate (2004), Classical Women Poets (1996) and Sappho: Poems & Frag-ments (1984 & 1992). Her study of classical translation and poetic versioning, Piecing Together the Fragments: Translating Classical Verse, Creating Contemporary Poetry, was published by Oxford University Press in 2013. She has written widely on poetry and translation for publications such as The Observer, the Independent on Sunday, the Times Literary Supplement, the New Statesman, and The Times, for which she compiles the daily Word Watch and weekly Literary Quiz. A former Chair of the Translators' Association, she was reviews editor of Modern Poetry in Translation from 2004-2009, and is a judge for The Guardian/Stephen Spender Prize for poetry translation, and an advisor to the journal, Agenda. She studied Classics and Ancient History at University College, London, and was awarded a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing by the University of East Anglia.

Table of Contents

Proem: Final Sentence Custodians: Myrmidons fragment The Librarians’ Power Trespass Excavators: Myrmidons fragment Papyrus Trace The Professor’s Prize Itch The Student’s Find Editors: Myrmidons fragment Redaction Draughts Scavengers: Myrmidons fragment Hoard The Clerk’s Crusade Translators: Myrmidons fragment Gerard’s Constellations Hunayn’s Gold Victors: Myrmidons fragment Gloss Amr’s Last Words Believers: Myrmidons fragment The Christians’ Cheek The Pagan’s Tip Emperor: Myrmidons fragment Entrenchment Anthologists: Myrmidons fragment Erotic Tales Supper Sophistries Scribe: Myrmidons fragment Blot Annotators: Myrmidons fragment Margin Diple Bureaucrats: Myrmidons fragment The Ferryman’s Roll Reverse Copyists: Myrmidons fragment Sarpedon’s Version Aeschylus’ Desk Comedian: Myrmidons fragment Thread Tragedian: Myrmidons fragment Aeschylus’ Revision Epilogue: Myrmidons: Surviving Text Myrmidons fragment Historical Notes and Sources

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Related Subjects

Poetry
English, Irish, & Scottish Poetry
English Poetry
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English, Irish, & Scottish Poetry
English Poetry

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