Aeneid commentary II-III 2010 北京大学英语系欧洲文学课教案ＰＰＴ教材课程.pptVIP

1. Dido’s consoling statement (I, 860-61) Non ignara mali miseris succerre disco Literally: “Not ignorant of hardship myself, I have learned to comfort those who suffer” Fitzgerald: ”Through pain I’ve learned to comfort suffering men” Memorably phrased, but some features of the Latin original are missed in Fitzgerald’s translation: Litotes: “not ignorant”= knowing Alliteration: male miseris ignara: feminine adjective—”not ignorant myself. . . “ miseris = “miserable ones”—no reference to gender 2. The “friendly” moon (II, 342):the Greeks sail by night to Troy. . . tacitae per amica silentia lunae not speaking through friendly silence of the moon Literally: “Through the friendly silence of the unspeaking moon” Fitzgerald: “Through the aloof [= distant, detached, unconcerned] moon’s friendly stillness” Features of the original missed: The “co-conspiracy” of the moon, unspeaking when it should shout a warning to the Trojans Fitzgerald’s translation makes the moon merely indifferent; in Virgil’s original it is hostile A “framed line,” in which the opening and closing words go together grammatically (here adjective and noun), thus enclosing the central thought Structure of Aeneid II The horse and Sinon’s deception (1-335) The night battle and destruction of the city (336-729) Escape and preparations for exile (730-end) Embedded narrative Sinon’s story: an embedded narrative within an embedded narrative The fact that Sinon’s tale is fiction (the reader knows he’s lying) makes Virgil’s fiction seem the more real The layers of narrative in Sinon’s speech: Virgil the historical author Virgil the implied author Aeneas Sinon Implied author “Implied author” is a term used to refer to the image of the author of a work formed in the reader’s mind This image does not necessarily correspond to the actual, historical author Example: The implied author of Don Quixote tells us in the novel’s Prologue that he began the novel