2 Comments
User's avatar
Beverly Hill's avatar

Jeanne, thanks for the Podany reference and review. These Sumerians are near to my heart. As for the other, I vowed long ago to avoid translations from French. And when I forget, the maddening digressions remind me. Claims for the sparkling clarity of French seem to be echoes of 18th century salons rather than lucid assessment in modern terms. It was a pleasure to read your careful evaluation from a historian-reader perspective.

Expand full comment
Jeanne Grant, Ph.D.'s avatar

You're welcome, Bev, and thanks for sharing. I didn't know you had such a soft spot for Sumerians. I would've written more, such as I think I understand better how these ancient peoples processed the world because of the way Podany details people's lives. I hesitated to write the other, negative review because, well, why spend more time on something that's not edifying? Yeah, it was like an 18th-century salon with its generalizations. I hadn't considered the translation angle, though the problems I had were with its deficient methodology.

Expand full comment