A review by sonofatreus
Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin
5.0
Vergil is said to have wanted his famous poem, the Aeneid, to be burned shortly before his death because he would die before he could finish it. Needless to say, it was not burned. But its incomplete nature has been a sticking point for years among readers. The abrupt ending is but one sign that this was true.
Le Guin, in her Afterword, says that she thinks Vergil at least ended it how he wanted, even if other parts seems unfinished. As she says, Lavinia is more an attempt to translate the Aeneid than it is an attempt to finish it. The original Latin, she says, is among the best poetry ever written, and so translating can be difficult, which is why she chose to translate it to a different form. In this, I think she exceptionally succeeded.
She captures the spirit of the original poem, but comes at it from another angle by having Lavinia be the main point of view. Even though Lavinia meets Vergil, as a sort of vision, she is not totally omniscient. She has some awareness of herself as a character in the poem (see some of my highlights), but not enough to be entirely in control of the narrative. At the same time, Le Guin does a great job weaving the events of the Aeneid into her story so that someone who hasn't read can still follow Lavinia's story.
Perhaps most impressively, Le Guin doesn't linger on Aeneas. He comes and goes — and certainly has a big part when he's there — from Lavinia's life, but this is very much her story, not his. This let Le Guin explore multiple different cultures (early Roman, Latin, Etruscan, and Trojan mostly) in ways that a story on Aeneas might not have. At the same time, focusing on Lavinia, daughter of Latinus and almost-wife of Turnus, also brings in different aspects of social life. As a woman, she is of lesser status than the men, but as a princess, she has more access to power than other women.
I'm not really sure what else to say about this. Unlike some other modern adaptations of ancient myth, especially ones that pick a female character not spotlighted in antiquity, Le Guin really captured the feeling of ancient stories. Her characters' concerns were those in the Aeneid, or at least the seem like they could have been. It's worth saying that Lavinia is a relatively minor character in the Aeneid, even if her existence has serious consequences for the poem. Le Guin turned Lavinia into what felt like a fully fleshed out character, and one that might have fit into the Aeneid or another ancient work.
Le Guin, in her Afterword, says that she thinks Vergil at least ended it how he wanted, even if other parts seems unfinished. As she says, Lavinia is more an attempt to translate the Aeneid than it is an attempt to finish it. The original Latin, she says, is among the best poetry ever written, and so translating can be difficult, which is why she chose to translate it to a different form. In this, I think she exceptionally succeeded.
She captures the spirit of the original poem, but comes at it from another angle by having Lavinia be the main point of view. Even though Lavinia meets Vergil, as a sort of vision, she is not totally omniscient. She has some awareness of herself as a character in the poem (see some of my highlights), but not enough to be entirely in control of the narrative. At the same time, Le Guin does a great job weaving the events of the Aeneid into her story so that someone who hasn't read can still follow Lavinia's story.
Perhaps most impressively, Le Guin doesn't linger on Aeneas. He comes and goes — and certainly has a big part when he's there — from Lavinia's life, but this is very much her story, not his. This let Le Guin explore multiple different cultures (early Roman, Latin, Etruscan, and Trojan mostly) in ways that a story on Aeneas might not have. At the same time, focusing on Lavinia, daughter of Latinus and almost-wife of Turnus, also brings in different aspects of social life. As a woman, she is of lesser status than the men, but as a princess, she has more access to power than other women.
I'm not really sure what else to say about this. Unlike some other modern adaptations of ancient myth, especially ones that pick a female character not spotlighted in antiquity, Le Guin really captured the feeling of ancient stories. Her characters' concerns were those in the Aeneid, or at least the seem like they could have been. It's worth saying that Lavinia is a relatively minor character in the Aeneid, even if her existence has serious consequences for the poem. Le Guin turned Lavinia into what felt like a fully fleshed out character, and one that might have fit into the Aeneid or another ancient work.