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justiceofkalr's review against another edition
3.0
Ovid's Heroides by itself deserves four stars, and one off for this translation. Mainly because I just really dislike when Latin poetry gets translated into rhyming verse. It just seems so hokey, and I feel like the need to work everything so it rhymes warps the translation a lot. Also, at one point in the preface, the translator "pleads guilty to having spiced these ladylike letters with the salt of neologism and the sauce of slang." Ugh. "Sauce of slang"? Really? In addition he takes the letters out of their traditional order and puts them in chronological order. Which for the most part does nothing for the collection. The only time I thought it was advantageous was when Hypsipyle and Medea's letters to Jason were placed next to each other. One positive about this translation was that a short explanation of the characters and myths was included before each letter to set the stage. This was definitely useful with a couple of the myths that I had either not heard or didn't recall well.
Anyways, about the Heroides in general, translation aside. They are amazing. They are basically ancient fanfiction. Ovid takes heroines that previous authors have written about and fills in the gaps in their stories with letters. Which is a cool idea, and generally well executed. Some of the characters included are fairly well known, such as Helen and Penelope, and some are a bit more obscure. Several of the poems are of suspect authorship, particularly the second half (in the traditional order). Which explains the oddness of Sappho's letter. It really felt out of place to me, not only in the fact that she's the only historical figure included, but also in the overall feel of the letter.
Anyways, about the Heroides in general, translation aside. They are amazing. They are basically ancient fanfiction. Ovid takes heroines that previous authors have written about and fills in the gaps in their stories with letters. Which is a cool idea, and generally well executed. Some of the characters included are fairly well known, such as Helen and Penelope, and some are a bit more obscure. Several of the poems are of suspect authorship, particularly the second half (in the traditional order). Which explains the oddness of Sappho's letter. It really felt out of place to me, not only in the fact that she's the only historical figure included, but also in the overall feel of the letter.
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