Yasiru’s Profile

421 ratings (4.28 avg)
108 reviews

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Yasiru is Currently Reading

Yasiru rated a book 5 of 5 stars

The Flowers of Evil

by Charles Baudelaire

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Yasiru said: "This translation for Oxford World's Classics by James N McGowan is wonderful enough that I was compelled to buy it, and is offered next to the French text in this excellent paperback for a degree of transparency I am grateful for even with my limited...more "

progress: — Apr 27, 2013 11:26am

Dec 12, 2012 06:54pm · see review

Yasiru is currently reading

Metamorphoses

by Ovid

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progress: — Apr 25, 2013 03:53am

Apr 13, 2013 02:17am

Yasiru rated a book 5 of 5 stars

The Odyssey

by Homer

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Yasiru said: "Here we are again! Having read Chapman's Odyssey, it was soon clear that Richmond Lattimore's more clear, muscular-seeming but sometimes surprisingly understated verse would not be aiming for the elegant rhyming form I had become familiar with (if wi...more Here we are again! Having read Chapman's Odyssey, it was soon clear that Richmond Lattimore's more clear, muscular-seeming but sometimes surprisingly understated verse would not be aiming for the elegant rhyming form I had become familiar with (if with difficulty, and I suspect, because I read rather quickly, not always digesting all that was said). But I don't think this is at all laziness on Lattimore's part (part of the praise for his translation is for fidelity), because the almost prose-like directness in setting the scenes effortlessly gives way to strong, dramatic speech (somewhat reminiscent of the tragedies of Aeschylus which were to come later, and which I believe Lattimore has also translated) that is able to convey the diverse but consistent personalities of those speaking (I especially like how Athena comes across, and the subtle way the suitors' boorish bravado, threats and coercions are put at odds with their public appeals to tradition) while maintaining a calm authority over the ebb and flow both within the gatherings and interactions depicted, and vicariously the poem at large.

So far, all this looks like it should make Matthew Arnold with his lecture On Translating Homer very happy. I've yet to reach much action here however, and from what I gather (not having read the Iliad), Arnold's analysis shouldn't be too readily or wholly extended to the Odyssey, because it is fundamentally a journey rather than a war (as the name retroactively suggests), and what it asks from a translator differs somewhat accordingly.

The ease with which I've come a sixth of the way is certainly encouraging, and the odd sentence breaks are easy enough to get used to. I'll expand this review once I've finished and address Homer's narrative then.

This Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition on paperback cost me a mere $5, for which the paper quality and print lettering are satisfactory, and the cover design attractive. Unfortunately, I found after some searching that Lattimore's translation of the Iliad is not available at similar expense through the imprint.

Maybe next year, if I can get my hands on them, I'll have a chance to sample the offerings from Pope, Fitzgerald and Shewring and offer further comparison.(less)"

progress: — Apr 16, 2013 07:26am

Mar 12, 2013 04:30pm · see review

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Yasiru rated a book 5 of 5 stars The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Allow me to quote from- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22... "The reality is that Machiavelli never ceased to support the people against what he called "the few" and what we call the nobles, the aristocracy, the "wise", the experts, or the rich. A...more
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Quotes Yasiru Likes

“The noble title of "dissident" must be earned rather than claimed; it connotes sacrifice and risk rather than mere disagreement.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

86 people liked it

“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer

tags: arrogance, perception, wisdom

222 people liked it

“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”
― Edgar Allan Poe

tags: dreaming, dreams, perception

5,794 people liked it

“Make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself.”
― George Bernard Shaw

tags: books, children

3,687 people liked it

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.”
― Gautama Buddha

tags: inspirational

1,239 people liked it

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Yasiru’s Writing

The Solder's Wake (Science Fiction & Fantasy)

2 chapters — updated Dec 10, 2012 12:09am

Description: I've been writing short fiction and scenes in a universe of my own since being reacquainted with fantasy a couple of years ago. These pieces have grown in quantity to the point that they tell a novel's worth of stories (or perhaps a few novels, to be realistic). The following is part of an early attempt at a prologue bringing these together. I wasn't as successful with this scene as I had hoped, so I've discarded it as a first prologue. I may use at least parts of it later though.

Poetry (Poetry)

1 chapters — updated Oct 29, 2012 02:08am

Description: I know little of rhymes, meters and forms, but present these idle compositions here nonetheless for whatever pleasure you may take from them and howsoever a kind comment you may leave.