[Stoat]

You probably know the series. Perhaps it was the small print of the volume. But I forgot the translator's name.

I own the identical set; same publishing year, and yes the dual-column page layout as well as the insultingly small (seven-point?) font size make the entire set far more tedious than necessary and takes away a great deal from the enjoyment of those essential works.  The translation was done by Richard Crawley in 1910, and although it may have been a perfectly fine effort I can't believe that Kagan didn't have in mind a desire to improve upon Crawley's work in his far more recent book.  Considering the fact that Kagan's book is available used at Amazon for only $2.00, I may end up getting a copy and seeing for myself how Kagan has approached this.  Most Amazon reviewers seem to like it, with Rob Hardy stating "Translators agree that Thucydides's style is difficult and subject to varying interpretations, and the different battles and overall strategies of the war can get lost." but he as well as most other Amazon reviewers seem to approve of Kagan's effort.

I'll give it a try again later. But I did read through all of Herodotus this year, and through Plutarch as well--but, alas, in English. I only have enough Greek to get through the first sentence of Plato's "Apologia".

You're doing better than I am; I'm trying to follow the Ten Year Reading Plan and find that the small type size and dual column layout of these old Britannica editions turns the joys of reading into an unpleasant chore, as I like to read in bed and balancing a reading magnifier in that setting is difficult to say the least.  I'm gradually replacing the set with individual volumes in an easier to read layout, and I think that Kagan's will be my replacement for Crowley's Thucydides.

I agree with your frustrations at not being able to read in the original languages....it's a reminder of how short life it, and how nice it would be to have unlimited time to appreciate all classic literary works in their original forms.

[Stoat]

Update:

I found this list at the blog of The New Criterion.  Some are reviewed (at the links) and I'm sure that all of these titles are worth looking into.

ARMAVIRUMQUE THE NEW CRITERION'S WEBLOG

12.20.2006

For the bookshelf

[Posted 11:24 AM by James Panero]

For my holiday reading list, I do not intend do fall into the usual blogging trap of trumpeting one's own book. I say this, however excellent The Dartmouth Review Pleads Innocent might be. I am speaking, of course, of my marvelous anthology of the infamous conservative student newspaper, which I co-edited with Stefan Beck. No, I won't fall for that one this year. Instead, here are some additional suggestions. Just like my own superb book, they would do fine as stocking stuffers or under the tree or as a tempting companion to a plate-full of latkes. So here 'tis (in no particular order):

• The Triumph of Modernism: The Art World, 1985-2005 by Hilton Kramer (quoted here).
• America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It by Mark Steyn (reviewed here.)
• Honor: A History by James Bowman
• Londonistan by Melanie Phillips
• Romancing Opiates: Pharmacological Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy by Theodore Dalrymple
• Betrayal: France, Arabs, and the Jews by David Pryce-Jones
• The New Ambidextrous Universe: Symmetry & Asymmetry from Mirror Reflections to Superstrings by Martin Gardner (reviewed here).
• Landscape With Moving Figures: A Decade on Dance by Laura Jacobs.
• Windows on Nature: The Great Habitat Dioramas of the American Museum of Natural History by Stephen Christopher Quinn (reviewed here).
• Symbolism by Rodolphe Rapetti (reviewed here, quoted here).
• The latest Jacob Collins catalogue from Hirschl and Adler, with essay by Roger Kimball. The catalogue is $25 from the gallery (quoted here). Note that the catalogue for Collins's previous show is now for sale on sale for twenty times that amount. Jiminy Christmas!

The New Criterion

James Panero

 

James Panero is the Managing Editor of The New Criterion. In addition to his editorial duties for the magazine, he writes on art and culture monthly for The New Criterion and serves as the magazine's gallery critic. He also manages the magazine's weblog, Armavirumque, which he started in 2003.

Mr. Panero is a contributor to a number of publications, including The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Weekly Standard, the Claremont Review, and the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. He lectures widely on art, politics, and education, speaking at Columbia University, Brown University, Deerfield Academy, The New York Studio School, The College of the Holy Cross, and before the New York Association of Scholars. He has served as a panelist on the National Endowment for the Arts, a "visiting artist" at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and has been a radio guest on The Milt Rosenberg Show (WGN-Chicago), The Mike Rosen Show (KOA-Denver) and All Things Considered (NPR) . Forthcoming appearances include a panel discussion on bias in the art world (the conference of the College Art Association; February 14-15, 2007).

Mr. Panero takes an active role in arts organizations around New York, including the National Arts Club, where he is a member of the literary committee.

Before joining The New Criterion in 2001, Mr. Panero was a graduate student in the history of art and architecture at Brown University, where he was awarded the University Scholarship. His area of focus was late-nineteenth-century French modernism under the advisement of Kermit Champa.

Mr. Panero is a former editor of National Review. He worked in Switzerland as a writing assistant to William F. Buckley Jr. on his novel Spytime: The Undoing of James Jesus Angleton (Harcourt, 2000).

James Panero received a B.A. from Dartmouth College, where he majored in Classics under the advisement of Edward Bradley. In his sophomore year he was appointed editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth Review. At Dartmouth he developed a close mentorship with Professor Jeffrey Hart upon the professor's retirement from the college's English department. The two now serve on The Dartmouth Review 's board of directors, where Mr. Panero is Chairman. Mr. Panero is the co-editor of The Dartmouth Review Pleads Innocent, an anthology of the newspaper published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Spring 2006.

Mr. Panero was born in 1975 and grew up on New York's Upper West Side, where he attended Trinity School for thirteen years. In addition to serving as an aid worker in Eastern Africa in 1992, the highlights of his youth include appearing ten years earlier on two episodes of the PBS show Sesame Street.

Mr. Panero continues to live in New York City. He is married to the writer and poet Dara Mandle, with whom he maintains the website www.daraandjames.com. He may be reached at the offices of The New Criterion or by email at letters (at) newcriterion (dot)com.