Bovie, Smith Palmer 1917–1999

(Palmer Bovie)

PERSONAL: Born December 24, 1917, in Gallipolis, OH; died May 14, 1999; son of George Frederick and Gladys (Carpenter) Bovie; married Maria E. F. Feiler, September 21, 1946; children: Claudia, Sharon. Educa-tion: Princeton University, B.A., 1940; Columbia University, M.A., 1948, Ph.D., 1954. Hobbies and other interests: Music.

CAREER: Kent School, Kent, CT, instructor in Greek and Latin, 1940–41, 1946; Columbia University, New York, NY, instructor in English, 1946–52; Barnard College, New York, assistant professor of English, 1952–58; Indiana University, Bloomington, associate professor, 1958–61, professor of classics, 1961–62; Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, professor of classics, 1963–89, professor emeritus, 1989–99. Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, visiting professor, 1958; American Academy, Rome, Italy, summer session professor-in-charge, 1960–62.

WRITINGS:

TRANSLATOR

Virgil, Virgil's Georgics: A Modern English Verse Translation, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1956.

Horace, Satires and Epistles: A Modern English Verse Translation, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1959.

(As Palmer Bovie) Titus Maccius Plautus, The Menaechmi, Chandler Publishing Co. (San Francisco, CA), 1962.

(As Palmer Bovie) Marcus Tullius Cicero, Nine Orations, and The Dream of Scipio, New American Library (New York, NY), 1967.

(As Palmer Bovie) Martial, Epigrams of Martial, New American Library (New York, NY), 1970.

(As Palmer Bovie) Five Roman Comedies, in Modern English Verse Translations (contains The Eunuch, by Terence, Mostellaria, by Plautus, Amphitryon, by Plautus, Poenulus; or, The Little Carthaginian, by Plautus, and Phormio, by Terence), Dutton (New York, NY), 1970.

(As Palmer Bovie) Titus Lucretius Carus, On the Nature of Things: A Modern Verse Translation, New American Library (New York, NY), 1974.

((As Palmer Bovie; with others) The Complete Comedies of Terence: Modern Verse Translations, Rutgers University Press (New Brunswick, NJ), 1974.

(As Palmer Bovie; with others) Terence, the Comedies, Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 1992.

"PENN GREEK DRAMA" SERIES; UNDER NAME PALMER BOVIE

(With David R. Slavitt) Plautus: The Comedies, four volumes, Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 1995.

(With David R. Slavitt) Euripides, four volumes, University of Pennsylvania Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1998.

(With David R. Slavitt) Menander, University of Pennsylvania Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1998.

(With David R. Slavitt) Sophocles, two volumes, University of Pennsylvania Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1998.

(With David R. Slavitt) Aristophanes, three volumes, University of Pennsylvania Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1998.

OTHER

(Author of introduction and notes) Martial, Selected Epigrams, translated by Rolfe Humphries, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 1963.

(As Palmer Bovie) Poems, privately published (Somerset, NJ), 1999.

SIDELIGHTS: Smith Palmer Bovie was a scholar of the classics whose career included teaching at several universities and publishing a number of translations from Greek and Latin. His Five Roman Comedies, in Modern English Verse Translations, which contains The Eunuch and Phormio by Terence and Mostellaria, Amphitryon, and Poenulus; or The Little Carthaginian, by Plautus, was reviewed by Barry Baldwin in Library Journal. Baldwin wrote that the translations "are lively and mindful of the fact that Roman comedy was meant to be staged."

In Bovie's last volumes, a collaboration with David R. Slavitt, dthe translators present a number of plays for the University of Pennsylvania's "Penn Greek Drama" series. Insight on the News contributor Mary Lefkowitz referred to the first three translations by noting that they "appear accessible to modern readers, even actable."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Insight on the News, March 2, 1998, Mary Lefkowitz, review of "Penn Greek Drama" series, p. 37.

Library Journal, April 15, 1979, Barry Baldwin, review of Five Roman Comedies, in Modern English Verse Translations, p. 1499.

New York Times Book Review, July 19, 1998, Daniel Mendelsohn, review of "Penn Greek Drama" series, p. 14.