vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Just caught up with Homer translator Emily Wilson chatting yesterday at the Edinburgh Book Festival. I studied both the Iliad and Odyssey as part of my Open University history/classical studies BA(Hons) degree 1998-2000. A very part time degree, but one that was greatly shortened thanks to credit transfer from my St Andrews BSc(Hons). Which meant I could leapfrog the first year's courses. Though that made it a much harder transition from studying hard science to studying humanities at degree level!

I was using Richmond Lattimore's translations of the Homer poems in my OU degree. I have a vivid memory of one night we'd driven over to Dundee, and Martin was nipping into supermarket Asda, with me waiting in the car. And reading the Iliad, full of hefty anatomical descriptions of battle injuries. And desperately wanting to read out some of them to him when we came back! I haven't read Emily's new translations yet, but hope to, health permitting. I did have her hardback Odyssey book for some time, but struggled too much with it due to my neurological illness. I may yet get the Kindle versions to read, with a gigantic font I need now.

The book festival chat was interesting. Emily was a very good speaker. Though the lady interviewing her talked far, far too long between Emily's bits. At one point Emily was repeatedly struggling to get a word in. And also, very frustratingly for the online audience, the interviewer totally ignored the many questions that had been typed up online to be asked to the speaker.
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Wow the Open University is 50 years old today! I’ve just blogged about my experiences with it, studying 1998-2000, and how it gave me a second chance after I fell long-term seriously ill as a science PhD student at just 22. Posting here for a feel good story! The Open University is a much venerated UK university, that set out from the start to support part-time distance learning at home, giving people a chance who might otherwise be unable to study at university level.

https://vivsacademicblog.wordpress.com/2019/04/23/celebrating-50-years-of-the-open-university/

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vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
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