Glenn W. Most is Professor of Greek Philology, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, and Professor of Social Thought, University of Chicago.
In the stimulating introduction to his new Loeb Classics two-volume
edition of Hesiod, Glenn Most makes the case that we, too, should
admire Hesiod for his powerful and unified worldview...The vast
questions that are addressed in these poems--the origins of the
gods, the way the world works, the reasons why things are as they
are--can be seen as the first rumblings of natural science,
physics, philosophy, theology, medicine, autobiography,
agriculture, law, even history and textual criticism...Hesiod is
our oldest source for many of the best-known and best-loved stories
of Greek mythology...The disturbing moral complexity of the
Hesiodic poems is all the more reason why we should continue to
read and study them...No other modern English translation includes
the fragmentary works or the ancient testimonia. If you already
have some familiarity with Hesiod's two best-known works and you
want to know more about the rest of the Hesiodic corpus and about
the ancient reception of this canonical figure, then Most's new
Loeb books will be essential. Most makes various important
corrections and improvements in his translation...We may look back
to Hesiod's poetry as representative of a cultural Golden Age when
it was possible for a single work of literature to encompass the
whole of traditional 'wisdom': high and low, ancient and modern,
philosophical and poetic, practical and metaphysical. Perhaps even
our Age of Iron could learn from him.--Emily Wilson"New Republic"
(09/10/2007)
For a wider audience, especially in this era of resurgent
environmental verse, the day of the rural seer and sage may finally
have arrived. Glenn Most's splendid new bilingual volume is,
therefore, timely...It offers readers and scholars alike the most
reliable prose translation and the richest supplementary materials
available.--Richard Martin"New York Sun" (03/20/2007)
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