Sarah Knight is Professor of Renaissance Literature at the University of Leicester. Virginia Brown is Senior Fellow, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto.
The sparkling translation, by Sarah Knight, frequently substitutes
English colloquialisms for a more formal diction...The facing
page's original text allows readers equipped with various levels of
Latin--rusty or merely lightly oxidized--to follow the great
success of the translator, who has produced a version at once
faithful and spirited...There is a satirical violence of rhetoric
here that goes beyond the familiar, and which makes Momus seem
sometimes a premonitory text, looking forward not only to Rabelais
and Erasmus, but to Swift and Beckett.
*The New Republic*
Momus may reveal more about Alberti than any one of his other
works, including his literary ambitions, his frustrations, and the
labyrinthine courtly culture in which he made his versatile career.
Best of all, this poisonously misogynistic text has been left to
the ministrations of two women of formidable learning, Sarah Knight
and Virginia Brown, whose competence systematically belies his
withering pronouncements....Momus is an important, if elusive,
work, now made accessible as never before in this splendid
rendition.
*Bookforum*
A rollicking story…Sarah Knight’s English translation reads very
well, presenting the story in an appropriately lively manner…It
makes for good entertainment—and a fascinating glimpse of a
reworking of many bits of classical literature and learning in a
Renaissance-era work.
*Complete Review*
An epic satire focused on the little-known classical god Momus,
archetype of the critic and troublemaker, this work represents a
notable contribution to neo-Latin satire in general and an
eccentric addition to Alberti's corpus in particular...The
appearance of an English version of Momus is a welcome complement
to David Marsh's translations of two other Latin comic works by
Alberti, the Intercenales (1987) and the Aesopic Apologi
(2004)...The Latin text by Brown and Knight and the English
translation by Knight have been expertly rendered...The translation
is fluid, graceful, and appropriately colloquial at times; Alberti
would be pleased with the deft capturing of his sometimes bawdy
tone...Momus as faultfinder, would find little to complain about in
Knight and Brown's fine edition of Alberti's strange satire.
*H-Net Reviews*
The Loeb Classical Library...has been of incalculable benefit to
generations of scholars...It seems certain that the I Tatti
Renaissance Library will serve a similar purpose for Renaissance
Latin texts, and that, in addition to its obvious academic value,
it will facilitate a broadening base of participation in
Renaissance Studies...These books are to be lauded not only for
their principles of inclusivity and accessibility, and for their
rigorous scholarship, but also for their look and feel. Everything
about them is attractive: the blue of their dust jackets and cloth
covers, the restrained and elegant design, the clarity of the
typesetting, the quality of the paper, and not least the sensible
price. This is a new set of texts well worth collecting.
*Times Literary Supplement*
An aristocratic devotion to our culture continues to manifest
itself even today in the most prestigious centers of study and
thought. One has merely to look at the very recent (begun in 2001),
rigorous and elegant humanistic series of Harvard University, with
the original Latin text, English translation, introduction and
notes.
*Il Sole 24 Ore*
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