October 12, 2001

Classic poetry translates into special performances

On October 28 and 29, literary fans will have the privilege of witnessing back-to-back on-campus performances of some of the world's greatest poetry, as translated by a Loyola alumnus. University of Kansas Professor Stanley Lombardo, Ph.D., A'65, will give a performance of selections from his recent translation of The Odyssey by Homer on Monday, October 29, in Nunemaker Auditorium. The prior evening in Roussel Performance Hall, Aquila Theatre Company of London will perform The Wrath of Achilles (books 16 ­ 19) of Lombardo's translation of Homer's The Iliad.

Lombardo, a native of New Orleans, entered Loyola in 1961 through the honors program with the intention of being a poet. At the time, all honors majors were required to take either sociology or Greek. Already enrolled in Latin with a professor who wanted all of his students to study Greek, Lombardo took on the second language, and after a couple of weeks of elementary Greek, the students were reading the opening lines of The Odyssey. Lombardo's appreciation for Homer began immediately, and the work of this poet gave a new direction to his life.

After graduating from Loyola in 1965, Lombardo embarked on his graduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Upon earning his Ph.D., he joined the faculty at the University of Kansas where he has taught classics since 1976. His areas of specialty include Greek and Latin literature and language as well as translations. Although he still writes poetry, most of his energy is focused on translation. His recent treatments of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey have been greeted with rave reviews, cited for their contemporary idiom while remaining loyal to the original Greek. Lombardo acknowledges that while he has drawn upon the poetic and cinematic traditions of the English-speaking world, his are close translations.

The Loyola professor, in whose classroom Lombardo's love for Homer began, was the Rev. Emmett M. Bienvenu, S.J. Lombardo dedicated his Odyssey in part to Bienvenu, who taught Greek philosophy and literature at Loyola for nearly 40 years, into his 80s and in spite of debilitating illnesses. In 1996 Bienvenu was honored by his friends, students, and colleagues with the establishment of a scholarship in his name, which has been awarded to outstanding students majoring and minoring in classical studies. The classical studies major had been dropped from the university curriculum in 1984, and although a minor was instituted in 1989, it was not until 1996 that the major was reinstated. The Rev. Emmettt M. Bienvenu, S.J., Scholarship will help ensure that classical studies remains a core learning area at Loyola.

To learn more about this event, please contact either Department of Classics Chair T. Davina McClain at mcclain@loyno.edu or (504) 865-3683, or Maria Magolske at magolske@loyno.edu or (504) 861-5582. If you are interested in supporting the classics at Loyola, please contact Jonalie Korengold at jjkoreng@loyno.edu.