Ezra Pound and Sextus Propertius - A Study in Creative Translation (English, Latin, Paperback)

When Ezra Pound published his "Homage to Sextus Propertius" in 1919, it provoked a storm of criticism, and a series of savage attacks on Pound as a translator. Charged with inaccuracy and carelessness, and even with perverting Propertius, he fought back, and the whole episode has contributed greatly to the debate as to what a translation is, could, or should be. Pound approached Propertius with his own poet's imagination. He was careless of minutiae of translation and certainly made some elementary errors; however, often where he departs from literal translation it is to pursue important poetic effects. In this classic book on the subject, first published in 1964, J.P. Sullivan examines Propertius and Pound to give an insight not only into the specific controversy that attended the publictin of "Homage" but into the process and aims of translation itself, suggesting ways in which the "Homage", being much more than a literal translation, can serve as an example to translators. The book includes a section of Propertius' poems in Latin with Pound's versions on facing pages.