Smarty Pants

#168: The Many Faces of Aeneas


Listen Later

The Aeneid has a reputation: it’s the founding myth of Rome, used down the centuries to justify conquest, colonization, and the expansion of empire the world over. Although Virgil includes many voices in his epic, Aeneas’s is the one that tends to be remembered—and celebrated, especially by his putative descendant, the Emperor Augustus. But with her new translation of The Aeneid, classicist Shadi Bartsch reveals the many ways that Virgil undermines both the glory of Aeneas and the authority of collective memory, down to the very verb used to begin and end the poem. Bartsch joins us on the podcast to untangle how the story of Aeneas is actually many stories, all in conversation with one another.

 

Go beyond the episode:

  • Shadi Bartsch’s translation of The Aeneid
  • Read her essay in The Washington Post, “Why I won’t surrender the classics to the far right
  • Daniel Mendelsohn’s essay “Lost Classics” reminds us that the study of ancient texts is the study of things that are no longer: lives, songs, stories, poems, memories, and the ordinary people who preserved their memory
  • In case you missed it: listen to our interview with historian Kyle Harper on the discomforting parallels between our current moment and the end of Rome


Tune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.


SubscribeiTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • Acast


Have suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. And rate us on iTunes! Our theme music was composed by Nathan Prillaman.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Smarty PantsBy The American Scholar

  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4

4.4

119 ratings


More shows like Smarty Pants

View all
On the Media by WNYC Studios

On the Media

9,129 Listeners

The Book Review by The New York Times

The Book Review

3,902 Listeners

This American Life by This American Life

This American Life

90,613 Listeners

Fresh Air by NPR

Fresh Air

38,151 Listeners

99% Invisible by Roman Mars

99% Invisible

26,168 Listeners

To The Best Of Our Knowledge by Wisconsin Public Radio

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

931 Listeners

The Kitchen Sisters Present by The Kitchen Sisters & Radiotopia

The Kitchen Sisters Present

1,269 Listeners

Reveal by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

Reveal

8,245 Listeners

The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker Radio Hour

6,677 Listeners

The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker

2,087 Listeners

Code Switch by NPR

Code Switch

14,520 Listeners

Radio Atlantic by The Atlantic

Radio Atlantic

2,239 Listeners

Read Me a Poem by The American Scholar

Read Me a Poem

60 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

15,941 Listeners

Americans in Paris by The American Scholar

Americans in Paris

9 Listeners

NPR's Book of the Day by NPR

NPR's Book of the Day

596 Listeners

Critics at Large | The New Yorker by The New Yorker

Critics at Large | The New Yorker

574 Listeners