Michael Lieberman's Blog: Mike Lieberman's take on reading and writing, page 2

Deirdre Bair's biography of C.G. Jung

I'm half way through Deirdre Bair's exhaustive and exhausting biography of C.G. Jung. If you care about the details of how archetypes, the collective unconscious, etc. came into being, this is a great resource. Factoid: as Jung began to formulate his theory of psychological types, initially introverts were thought to be "thinking" and extroverts, "feeling." It was only some years later that all eight types and their independent distributions came into being.

Whose Translation of "The Iliad" to read?

If you are going to read the book yourself, not as part of a university class,
I suggest the Robert Fagles translation. The poetry is easy to follow, and the introduction by Bernard Knox is superb. I like the Robert Fitzgerald version almost as well, but it lacks an introduction for the general reader. For me, the verse moves faster because it's largely iambic pentameter. Fagles verse is slightly richer, but slower—the verse is freer. The most rewarding and ingenious translation is Alexander Pope's. For poetry it is without peer, but it can be hard to follow if you don't know the story. So it's a "second read." A big plus is that each of the twenty-four books begins with a prose summary. Really the Pope is a must to see what can be done with an epic in modern English. Although it's in heroic couplets (rhymed iambic pentameter), it feels (and is) more contemporary than Milton, Shakespeare, or Chaucer. I have not read the recent Mitchell translation, which is abridged. And for some reason the Lattimore translation has never held much appear for me

Who is Briseis? Achilles & Agamemnon argue over her in "The Iliad."

The epic covers just a few weeks in the tenth year of the Trojan War & is set in motion by Agamemnon, the Greek commander, demanding that Achilles give up Briseis, his concubine, whom he was awarded in an earlier conflict. Here is Alexander Pope's description from Book I of Achilles handing her over to two heralds sent to retrieve her. This is what the rage of Achilles is all about:

"I know your message; by constraint you came;
Not you, but your imperious lord I blame.
Patroclus, haste, the fair Briseis bring;
Conduct my captive to the haughty king.
But witness, heralds, and proclaim my vow,
Witness to gods above, and men below!
But first, and loudest, to your prince declare
(That lawless tyrant whose commands you bear),
Unmoved as death Achilles shall remain,
Though prostrate Greece shall bleed at every vein.…"

Pardon Keats: "On Second Looking Into Fagles' Homer"

Just reread books 16 (Patroclus Fights and Dies) and 22 (The Death of Hector). I thought they worked really well. His language is expressive and his loose 5/6 beat lines work. It's easy to read for the non-specialist, though you have to know the players. Agamemnon, for example, is often referred to as "Atrides," the son of Atreus, etc. If you're going to read "The Iliad," this is the place to start.

Deirdre Bair's biography of C.G. Jung

At the Solana Beach Café working on a new book (still mostly under wraps) and reading Deirdre Bair’s gigantic biography of C.G. Jung (and loving it).

A Credo from W.H. Auden

W.H. Auden (1907-1973). Here are the last five lines of Auden's "September 1, 1939." It's a despairing poem written on the eve of WWII. "Eros" here is a broad, generative, life-force Eros. The antecedent of "them" is "the just" (who act). These lines are a masculine credo of a different sort, a very Jungian take on the world.

May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

Hector, Breaker of Horses

In THE ILIAD the epithet, breaker of horses, is applied to the Trojan hero. Homer uses many such epithets, and scholars vary in assessing their significance: Are they simply a way for the poet to pad the line to six dactylic feet? An important key to the subject's character? A little breathing space so that improvising bards who are said to have contributed / completed The Iliad had time to think? A way of fitting large slabs of verse together or helping the reciter to keep his place? No one, of course, knows, but for me as a reader they are reminders of the character and attributes of Hector, Achilles, Athena and the others.

Goodreads Giveaway of The Lobsterman's Daughter

Thanks to all of you for making my giveaway of TLD a tremendous success.

Siegfried Sassoon and World War I

On August 4, 1914 the British declared war on Germany. To mark the 100th Anniversary of the beginning of World War I, here is a mordant comment on that war by the British poet Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967), who served in the war and later protested against it.

Does It Matter?

Does it matter?-losing your legs?...
For people will always be kind,
And you need not show that you mind
When the others come in after hunting
To gobble their muffins and eggs.

Does it matter?-losing your sight?...
There's such splendid work for the blind;
And people will always be kind,
As you sit on the terrace remembering
And turning your face to the light.

Do they matter?-those dreams from the pit?...
You can drink and forget and be glad,
And people won't say that you're mad;
For they'll know you've fought for your country
And no one will worry a bit.

Goodreads giveaway of THE LOBSTERMAN'S DAUGHTER

Beginning tomorrow, Thursday, July 31st & running until Tuesday, August 5th there will be a Goodreads giveaway of my latest novel. Sign up and take your chances!