The Books/Reading Thread

[viewerfromnihil]

My translation jumps immediately into dialogue, there isn't even a table of contents. It managed to rise a few laughs out of me, notably when it is translated that Thrashymachus called Socrates a "sillybilly." On your point, though, it certainly is a slog.

 

[Einherjar86]

Who's the translator and publisher?

 

[viewerfromnihil]

Published by Vintage Books, Random House. Translated by Benjamin Jowett around the mid to late 19th Century. The price on the cover of the book is $1.65, so it was probably printed around the early seventies. But there isn't extensive publishing information in this copy, so it's hard for me to be sure.

 

[Einherjar86]

Not familiar with the Vintage, but Jowett's translation seems to be pretty popular. When it comes to academic texts like this, I find the university publishers to usually be of higher quality. Oxford UP has an edition that is supposed to be very good. Getting a poor translation can completely ruin the experience of reading.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Any translation of Plato is going to be difficult because so many key terms in Plato's philosophy are translated into words that are loaded with modern philosophical concepts (for example, "eidos" being translated as "idea" will suggest something much more abstract than what Plato really means) but having an old, antiquated translation like Joewett's is only gonna make it harder.

The revised Grube translation is pretty solid and I've heard the Bloom translation is good, though I haven't read it myself.

 

[unknown]

currently reading The Red Wine of Youth, a collection of short stories by John Fante. Just as good as Ask the Dust. So far the only Fante I haven't been impressed with is 1933 Was a Bad Year.

 

[Einherjar86]

Any translation of Plato is going to be difficult because so many key terms in Plato's philosophy are translated into words that are loaded with modern philosophical concepts (for example, "eidos" being translated as "idea" will suggest something much more abstract than what Plato really means) but having an old, antiquated translation like Joewett's is only gonna make it harder.

That's why you need one with good notations and possibly an interpretive essay.

The revised Grube translation is pretty solid and I've heard the Bloom translation is good, though I haven't read it myself.

I've actually heard bad things about Bloom from grad students at UChicago; but I also haven't read it, so I can't vouch.

 

[Dak]

Went back and double checked this Kindle edition, it is also Jowett.

 

[Vimana]

Starting to read The Interpretation of Dreams. My only complaint is how verbose it is.

 

[monoxide_child]

just finished

 

[monoxide_child]

 

[viewerfromnihil]

I just ordered David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, from Ein's mentioning of the author and from Jimmy's posting of his This is Water speech, and Peter Novak's The Noble Dream: The 'Objectivity Question' and the American Historcal Profession, a historiographical work which will be my first text dedicated entirely to the subject, thanks to the urging of my history professor. I can't wait for these two to come in.

I've been pretty happy with what I've read and/or am working on with my summer reading list.

 

[Einherjar86]

Infinite Jest is a BEAST.

Seriously though, lit scholars avoid that book because it's so daunting and time-consuming. But from what I've heard (I haven't read it), if you can make it, it's totally worth it. A classic postmodern text that challenges what we think of as literature.

I've read Wallace's The Broom of the System, a fictive contemplation on language and philosophy, that explores the ideas of Derrida and Wittgenstein; and his collection of essays, Consider the Lobster. Both are fantastic, so I'm sure Infinite Jest is good (and it is his magnum opus, after all).

Pretty excited, my comic book-obsessed cousin bought me a couple rags for my wedding:

 

[wandering_taco]

I'm currently working through The Immense Journey by Loren Eiseley as well as a combo book that has both Twilight of the Idols and The Antichrist by Nietzsche.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

I'm currently working through The Immense Journey by Loren Eiseley as well as a combo book that has both Twilight of the Idols and The Antichrist by Nietzsche.

So good. The sections "Reason in Philosophy" and "How the True World Became a Fable" is some of the best material Nietzsche ever produced.

 

[wandering_taco]

I don't think I've gotten there yet, I'm not too far. The Immense Journey is my main read at the moment. I really like Eiseley's writing style, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a good mix of science, philosophy, and literature. I enjoyed The Unexpected Universe by him more, but this is also a good read so far, I'm almost done with it.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Infinite Jest is a BEAST.

Seriously though, lit scholars avoid that book because it's so daunting and time-consuming. But from what I've heard (I haven't read it), if you can make it, it's totally worth it. A classic postmodern text that challenges what we think of as literature.

Sounds like the kind of shit that I would despise.

 

[Dak]

So good. The sections "Reason in Philosophy" and "How the True World Became a Fable" is some of the best material Nietzsche ever produced.

Which book are those sections in?

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

let me Google that for you

http://lmgtfy.com/?q="Reason+in+Philosophy"+nietzsche

 

[Dak]

And close the possibility of further dialogue? Tsk tsk.