The Aeneid

David Hadbawnik's astonishing modern translation of the Aeneid first appeared from Shearsman Books in two volumes, in 2015 and 2021, in both cases with extensive illustrations. We now offer an un-illustrated, single-volume edition of the whole epic, in a more affordable format.

"David Hadbawnik has made Virgil our guest in ways that other translators of the Aeneid have not. He has recast the poem in contemporary verse, in poetic forms that are innovative and visually compelling. Moreover, he has used form to offer insight into the action of the epic and into the minds of its actors. Through Hadbawnik, Virgil speaks in our modern American idiom." -John Tipton, Chicago Review

"...Hadbawnik's ironic wit brings Virgil's text to life for a contemporary readership even more impatient than its historic counterpart with the potential longueurs of traditional epic. [... his] version is fresh, irreverent, and radical.

[...] In sum, this is a startling and stimulating version of Virgil's great epic for a twenty-first century readership which will engage student attention and has some interest for Translation Studies. Its lively irreverence reflects the way in which classical reception now (at last) feels able to tackle one of the central texts of Latin and European literature with up-to-date brio and gusto. Its in-your-face tactics will surely bring new readers and enthusiasts to the Aeneid, and has something to say to old ones too." -Stephen Harrison, Translation and Literature

"...the pleasure Hadbawnik derives from Virgil's Latin provides a lesson in how readers might attend ancient storytelling from our perspective today. Translation for Hadbawnik is a site of poetic play and textual investigation, and such an approach enlivens our ability to listen across time and culture as a way to better inform our own. - DaleMartin Smith

"Few narrative poems have possessed the Western imagination like Virgil's twelve-book epic written during Augustus's triumphant consolidation of the Roman Empire. [...] This volume goes a long way toward moving the narrative into the hands of contemporary readers, drawing out a playful understanding of the ancient story while exhibiting modern preferences for poetic interaction and inquiry into the history and terms of poetic form and translation. Hadbawnik shows the fun to be had in language's etymological resonance, and he delights in scenes of dramatic fulfillment and failure. His translation distills the essence of the narrative by directing a reader's perception of the tale." -from Dale Martin Smith's Introduction, 'The Warrior Agōn'.