online and hybrid learning
online and hybrid learning
for a sustainable world, and for your learning needs Monday, November 16, 2011 A Tale of Two Books - The Second Day of the Two Part Blog - The Unsung Heroes of English It's the second day of our blog: 2+2=...? and I wanted to mention the fact that I started learning English, and reading English literature over half a century ago. The book you are about to see below was recommended to me by my English teacher. I've never seen it on any other author's list, and I hope you like it too. John S. Clarke. The Second Book of the Iliad. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1918. It took me less than two days to discover that it's a very valuable resource, and not only to me. The reason I'm mentioning this today is because I believe the story it tells is representative of the way so many important books in English and other languages have been made. When I decided to start learning English, and I remember having many a discussion about which books to start with. My English teacher at the time told me I could start with any book I like, and she was certainly right. The book I've listed above was recommended to me, and I'm sure you have one or two other books from your days in English lessons that you can also recommend. I'd like to tell you about my experience with it. I was lucky enough to have a textbook for every class of a five-year course (there were five of them), and because of that I was able to read lots of books in my time. Among them was John S. Clarke's book I've mentioned above, which I can recommend to anyone who is serious about reading the works of Homer in English. What makes this particular book special is that it is, at least on the surface, very, very different from all the other books about the works of Homer. It is, for example, presented to the reader in three, instead of in five, books. The first two books - the prologue and the first epic - have been lost and this book relies on secondary sources, while the third book, the most famous, is a translation. The book's introduction mentions the problems of Homer's text and the sources, and explains the book's philosophy, "to offer a modern English translation, by the modern English method". There has never been a good modern translation of the second book of the Iliad, by any modern translator. But that is not quite true; in 1918 there was one, by my publisher. The translation of Mr. Clarke has done a great deal to put the translation of the second book of the Iliad on a modern footing. It is to be hoped that those who have access to this translation will be able to use it." - Sir Richard Jebb in an introduction.
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