The Complete Greek Tragedies: Sophocles II

The translations in this volume are as livid and realisitic as those in the preceding (I'm reading the series Aeschylus->Sophocles->Euripides). I found 'Ajax' and 'Philoctetes' to be the most memorable. They capture the lively spirit of social conflict between individual characters that sets Sophocles apart from his predecessor. <br /> <br />One complaint is that the introduction in this volume were often more narrowly-focused than those in the early Aeschlyus volume. They are more brief, and seem to expect great knowledge by the reader of the play they are introducing. I reread them after reading the play, and only then were they interesting.

This rather experimental work attempts to translate classics into the modern American language - not just the concrete meaning of the words, but the abstract meaning as well, which is always derived from the entirety of the particular culture. As such, these translations are a monumental undertaking in making ancient Greeks speak to us directly, without the traditional use of modern rhyming or artificial pseudo-archaic English as most of the available translations employ. I would consider it a big success and recommend the entire series to anyone truly interested in ancient culture. However, for those who can't care less about antiquity, this is just a marvelous easy reading.

In the USA there's a social category of people known as "airheads" for whom anything that happened before the year 2000 is "like, major antiquity, guy". What can we say, then, about plays that were written over 2,400 years ago ? For most of my life, the mention of Greek plays was on a par with cod liver oil. Probably good for me, but best avoided if possible. I admit, it was the airhead-lite approach. Recently, I finally buckled down and decided it was now or never. I'm not sorry I did. The four plays by Sophocles in this collection deal with Iliad spinoffs---events connected to that ancient epic with some of the Trojan War characters already known to the Greeks of the author's time---with legends of the gods (Hercules or Heracles, as they write it) or with both at once. Each play uses a chorus to reflect inner thinking or thinking by "other people", whoever they may be. The translation in this volume brings a modicum of modern English to the plays, rendering them very understandable. Purists might not appreciate that, but I, for one, found myself better able to follow the deeper meanings of the plays because I didn't have to wade through archaic English. (Remember how we struggled through Shakespeare?) AJAX, ELECTRA, WOMEN OF TRACHIS, and PHILOCTETES jolted me out of my neo-airhead tendencies and amazed me by their modernity. Their form may be ancient, stilted to modern eyes, and lacking much action, but the themes reveal human nature as if these plays all were written yesterday. The same dilemmas pose themselves, the same contrasts in human character---the straight and the crooked, the mean and the noble, the forgiving and the vengeful. Actions well meant turn out to have disastrous consequences. Greed and jealousy run rampant. AJAX, the earliest work here, is a little less dramatic than the other three, but does deal with "temporary insanity". I don't have the silver tongue and deconstruction abilities of a literary expert, but if these plays don't knock your socks off---just because of their relevance to 2003 if for no other reason---then I don't know what will. Don't wait 40 years. Delicious cod liver oil, no lie.

When I entered college, I was surprised to hear that there were so few Greek tragedies extent in the world today. I was also surprised that Sophocles actually had more plays than the Oedipus cycle. After debating whether to buy this translation of the texts (I am trying to collect all the Greek tragedies in this series), I finally checked it out of the library. Personally, I think that these plays are better than Oedipus, possibly because I think that Oedipus is rather overdone by high schools and colleges all over. Ajax: It was good. I was kind of annoyed that the translator decided to mark each choral ode by its parts, which wasn't necessary. This play is about Ajax, one of the heroes of the Trojan War; this tale goes past the Trojan War portrayed in the Iliad, however. In the Odyssey, Odysseus meets Ajax in the underworld who is upset because Odysseus won the contest against him for Achilles armor. This play expands on the outcome of this contest. Ajax, disgraced, desperately turns himself against the Greek warriors, especially Odysseus. At the end, he kills himself because of his loss of honor.The Women of Trachis: Definately climbing near Medea for my favorite Greek tragedy. This play is about Deianeira, a wife of Heracles. When Heracles returns from a city with a new mistress, Deianeira decides to take action against the man he loves. She uses a potion that was given to her by a Centaur, whom Heracles killed when the Centaur attempted to rape her. The Centaur gave her some of his blood and told her it is a love potion to give to Heracles, so if his attention ever wanders, she could bring it back to her. When Heracles brings home the new woman, Deianeira decides to use it. What Deianeira didn't realize, though, is that the Centaur wanted revenge upon Heracles, and the blood was actually poison.Electra: Unlike the Electra in Aechyllus' Oresteia, this Electra is focused on a bit more. She resembles the Electra of Euripides. Same story: Orestes returns to avenge his father Agamemnon's murder by his mother, Clytaemnestra, and Aegisthus, Agamemnon's cousin and Clytaemnestra's consort. Electra has been living with Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus, and she was the person who saved Orestes from Clytaemnestra's rage. (Why did she murder Agamemnon? She could have just been an evil wife, but Agamemnon did sacrifice their daughter Iphigenia when he sailed for Troy.) This play is about Electra's pain and desperate hope that Orestes will return.Philoctetes: When the Greeks sailed for Troy, one of the Greeks was bitten by a venomous snake, and the Greek soldiers abandoned him on an island before reaching Troy. After the events of the Iliad, and after Achilles death, the Greeks capture a son of Priam who prophesized that the Greeks would not be able to take Troy without Philoctetes' bow and arrows. This bow was given to Philoctetes by Heracles. This play is about Odysseus and Neoptolemus' conspiracy to steel the bow. Neoptolemus is to pr

This version of Sophocles plays Electra, Ajax, Philoctetes and Women of Trachis is one of the best I"ve found. I was basicly looking for an acting version, and Waitings verse is both telling, beautiful and flowing. It tells the story without plodding or stumbling. Very good. By the way, the cover says Penguin Classic.