A Song of Thebes

Reviews / Votes

"The scholar-poet Jane Wilson Joyce offers a new translation of Statius' Thebaid that is a major contribution to the field. Very readable, well researched, and insightful, it should prove useful and stimulating to students, casual readers, and serious scholars (both Statians and the uninitiated). It addresses three important needs. It provides the first English commentary on the epic in its entirety. It is the first verse translation in English using a six-beat line. And it it's the first English translation with a decent chance of convincing readers that Statius the epic poet can be enjoyable, that his is indeed a vox iuncunda ... This vigorous, engaging translation, copious supporting material, and confident interpretive voice ... rewards casual reading or more intense study. An impressive achievement that will be hard to match, it deserves to become the new standard."-Kyle G. Gervais, Bryn Mawr Classical Review "Jane Wilson Joyce's translation of the Thebaid is a stunning achievement. The long lines of loosely flowing rhythms represent Statius' manner more accurately and vividly (and in more accomplished verse) than any translation of the poem I have seen. The result is a sophisticated and very challenging poem, striking and even austere in some ways, hardly modern yet less old fashioned than other fashioned, and in its way quite new."-William Levitan, Grand Valley State University "Our generation has developed such an appetite for violence and horror that it is more than ready to appreciate Statius' Thebaid. Thanks to Jane Wilson Joyce, a poet in her own right, we now have a rich and vivid translation that matches the pace and urgency of Statius' narrative: his gods are vindictive, his demons gruesome, his champions brutal, while brave and innocent young warriors meet their deaths and loving women grieve for them. Statius' imaginative power and Joyce's language set before us in passionate variety scenes of human hatred and loyalty, arrogance and exaltation, supernatural omens, ghosts and furies, and a fratricidal climax that drives the gods from the battlefield in sheer disgust. How lucky for readers that Jane Wilson Joyce is also a scholar! She has doubled the value of her work by supplying everything the reader needs to follow the heroic tale, a substantial introduction on Statius' life and times, synopses to open each book, footnotes, and a lively critical commentary."-Elaine Fantham, Giger Professor of Latin Emerita, Princeton University