[AGL] Re: Arrowsmith

[Wayne Johnson]

I always like John Sullivan's translation of Petronius.  In many ways, I 
thought as good as Arrowsmiths.  Really liked Sullivan and his wry English 
view of "things Texan."

wgJ
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Eisenstadt" <michaele at hotpop.com>
To: <austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 12:52 PM
Subject: [AGL] Re: Arrowsmith


>i was forwarded a number of remarks about UT classics
> professors Arrowsmith and John Sullivan.
>
> I had 2 classes with Arrowsmith, 1 with John Sullivan.
> Sullivan's was on Latin lyric poets and I remember
> his remarks on textual problems being acute and
> grounded in Latin language competence. This is
> rare among American classics professors, but
> Sullivan was an Englishman and educated there.
>
> In one of Arrowsmith's seminars we read Apuleius'
> The Golden Ass. The other was on Euripides about
> whom Arrowsmith had a new theory, namely
> "modality." When pressed to define modality he
> was never able to come up with anything that made
> sense. The very pleasant seminar setting was in his and Jean's house out 
> on Red Bud Trail. After the
> seminar he would serve cookies and sangria mixed in a kitchen pot: nasty.
> As for Arrowsmith's competence in Greek and Latin,
> he seemed to know Greek fairly well. As for his
> competence in Latin, a much more difficult language,
> there is an amusing anecdote in a memorial to him
> written by Saul Bellow. Bellow knew him at Princeton where they became 
> friends. In Rome once walking about together a beggar accosted them, 
> questioned them as to their professions and learning that Arrowsmith was a 
> classics professor, spouted out a reel of memorized Latin and challenged 
> Arrowsmith to identify the author. He undoubtedly pronounced Latin in 
> Catholic school style with "ch"s and soft "g"s. Arrowsmith at a total loss 
> told Bellow that it wasn't real Latin, just mumbojumbo. I could never 
> decide whether Bellow realized that Arrowsmith was bullshitting him or 
> not. Probably not or why put the
> story in a memorial to a friend? I gave a copy of the piece to classics 
> prof David Armstrong for his reaction. His conclusion was the same: 
> Arrowsmith didn't have a clue. Hard position to be in. How to explain
> to Bellow that American classicists don't really know Latin and Greek like 
> Englishmen and continentals?
> Bellow's reminiscence/memorial to Arrowsmith is in his "It all adds up."
>