It occurred
to me the other night while slogging through an article in German that it
certainly would be handy if whoever was last forced to read this
article had made some notes for me. And then it occurred to me that with this
web page, it would be possible to "pool resources", so to speak. So, when I
read a piece of classical scholarship, I'm going to write a short abstract
of the work (as objectively as possible), give my unobjective opinion, and
then post all that as well as the bibliographical reference here.
I encourage other students and professors to do the same. Here are the conditions: Do not
simply translate the work or in any other way infringe upon the copyright protections
afforded to the author(s); do not submit an abstract unless, to the best of your
knowledge, you truly understand it and have not misapprehended any arguments
because of faulty foreign language skills; do not intentionally omit an important
part of the author's argument or skew it in any way; separate personal opinion about
the article from its abstract; include under what heading you feel this
submission ought to be classified (ie, Rhetoric, Ovid, the polis, etc); include your name, email address, and any institutional affiliation
in the submission (and tell me if you do not wish this information posted). By
emailing a submission you agree to these conditions. I reserve the
right not to post any submission at my discretion, and also to remove submissions
at my discretion. To submit an entry, simply
email it to me and I'll post it here. If you see a submission here which you believe ought to
be removed for some reason, please
contact me with the details. Also feel free to contact me if you wish
to agree or disagree with any analyisis someone else has submitted --- it will be
helpful to post dissenting opinions.