The Complete Poems of Catullus: A Bilingual Edition
"It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows Dennis Sullivan, that he’s been hanging around with a soulmate who is a 2,000-year-old Roman poet named, Gaius Valerius Catullus. This book of translation of the complete (surviving) poems of Catullus is the result and we are its lucky beneficiaries. Catullus is like no poet you’ve read. He is beyond our contemporary world, he is outside of time. His openness, his insight into human nature, his voice, his delight in his sexuality and his energy are remarkable. From the sweetness of Poem 3 to the notorious Poem 16, from his mourning of his brother’s death, to his sexual relationships with men and women, his jealousy of sexual and poetic competitors and his humorous fantasies of revenge; here is a passionate man in the bloom of youth with an enormous appetite for experience.Catullus is the finest lyric poet of his day, an innovator of the unique Roman elegy, characterized by its metrics and its highly personal and emotional themes. In fact, his influence on poetics continues to this day. Of course, if one is not comfortable with his subjects and his intensity, one could throw a DSM-5 at him, but here’s a better idea. Read his poems and enjoy the richness of Dennis Sullivan’s translations. And remember, it is the conceit of each generation to think of themselves as humankind’s most advanced, yet despite all that has changed in the past 2,000 years, you and I and human nature have changed not a whit." — Howard J Kogan, poet and psychotherapist
