Meditations: A New Translation - Brossura

Aurelius, Marcus

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0812968255 ISBN 13: 9780812968255

Casa editrice: Random House Publishing Group, 2003

Riassunto

Nearly two thousand years after it was written, Meditations remains profoundly relevant for anyone seeking to lead a meaningful life.

Few ancient works have been as influential as the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, philosopher and emperor of Rome (A.D. 161–180). A series of spiritual exercises filled with wisdom, practical guidance, and profound understanding of human behavior, it remains one of the greatest works of spiritual and ethical reflection ever written. Marcus’s insights and advice—on everything from living in the world to coping with adversity and interacting with others—have made the Meditations required reading for statesmen and philosophers alike, while generations of ordinary readers have responded to the straightforward intimacy of his style. For anyone who struggles to reconcile the demands of leadership with a concern for personal integrity and spiritual well-being, the Meditations remains as relevant now as it was two thousand years ago.

In Gregory Hays’s new translation—the first in thirty-five years—Marcus’s thoughts speak with a new immediacy. In fresh and unencumbered English, Hays vividly conveys the spareness and compression of the original Greek text. Never before have Marcus’s insights been so directly and powerfully presented.

With an Introduction that outlines Marcus’s life and career, the essentials of Stoic doctrine, the style and construction of the Meditations, and the work’s ongoing influence, this edition makes it possible to fully rediscover the thoughts of one of the most enlightened and intelligent leaders of any era.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

"Here, for our age, is [Marcus' s] great work presented in its entirety, strongly introduced and freshly, elegantly translated." --Robert Fagles

One measure, perhaps, of a book's worth, is its intergenerational pliancy: do new readers acquire it and interpret it afresh down through the ages?

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, translated and introduced by Gregory Hays, by that standard, is very worthwhile, indeed. Hays suggests that its most recent incarnation--as a self-help book--is not only valid, but may be close to the author's intent. The book, which Hays calls, fondly, a 'haphazard set of notes,' is indicative of the role of philosophy among the ancients in that it is 'expected to provide a 'design for living.'' 

And it does, both aphoristically ('Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what's left and live it properly.') and rhetorically ('What is it in ourselves that we should prize?'). Whether these, and other entries sound life-changing or like entries in a teenager's diary is up to the individual reader, as it should be. Hays's introduction, which sketches the life of Marcus Aurelius (emperor of Rome A.D. 161-180) as well as the basic tenets of stoicism, is accessible and jaunty. -- H. O'Billovich 

--This review refers to an earlier edition

L'autore:

Gregory Hays is associate professor of classics at the University of Virginia. He maintains an annotated bibliography of Fulgentius the Mythmaker.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Random House Publishing Group
• Data di pubblicazione: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0812968255
• ISBN 13: 9780812968255
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 256