In November, we will be reading The Theban Plays by Sophocles.
Please post your questions and comments in this thread.
Free copy:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31
In November, we will be reading The Theban Plays by Sophocles.
Please post your questions and comments in this thread.
Free copy:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31
~
"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
~
Just curious: how are people planning on reading these - in order of chronology (Oedipus Tyrannus, Colonus, Antigone) or in order of which they were written (Antigone, Tyrannus, Colonus)?
I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...
Anybody know which translations are supposed to be good? I think what I read, and what I've got around, is Fagles; but I don't want to read his, I want something more flowery. Was hoping Lattimore had done it, but I can't see anything on the internet that says he did.
David Grene might be more what you're looking for. I think you can find his translations online.Originally Posted by Stewed
I also have read Fagles, who, if you are looking for the story in English without too much care about accuracy or poetry, is the best. If you are translating or looking for something more poetic - try Grene. I have not come across his translations of these particular plays, but I have worked with him before.
Of course, you can also go to the original....
I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...
I shall be re-reading my Penguin Classic, translated by Watling.
ay up
I'll be going for the free one, unless the library has a copy. I was glancing over them the other day - in anticipation, and I think I saw a Sophocles. I might just bob down and get it tomorrow if that's the one. I've not read any Greek before except for Homer.
I have the Slavitt translation from Yale University Press, but I've been told Fagles is the current preferred translation. I have some others hanging around in anthologies and such, mostly of Oedipus Rex.
I'll probably work from the free text just to make it easier to talk about certain passages together.
I'm thinking it's best to go in chronology of the mythology for those not familiar with the stories. Even though the chronology of composition is different.
"If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
- Margaret Atwood
Agreed
I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...
Yep, I would say chronological order of the story as well.
Last edited by prendrelemick; 11-01-2011 at 04:49 AM.
ay up
Lesson 1: Listen to Tiresias!
I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...
It's counter intuitive really, the more you know of the ending the more you get out of the beginning. Nearly every sentence Oedipus utters has added value because you know he is the cause and the root of the trouble. So when he says:-
Not for some far-off kinsman, but myself, Shall I expel this poison in the blood; For whoso slew that king might have a mind To strike me too with his assassin hand.
-you know he is right, but not in the way he means.
ay up
I know I can't vote on this, but still I like Sophocles so I'll be reading it.
Le dieci P della saguezza: Prima Pensa Poi Parla Perchè Parole Poco Pensate Portano Pena
'fraid I just don't have the pep to re-read these plays this month. But (and this is slightly off topic, but also slightly on topic, which is typical for El Sancho) I read a marvelous history about classical Greece this summer. It's by British Historian Bettany Hughes, The Hemlock Cup. It's mostly about the life and times of Socrates.
Ms. Hughes did an amazing job of bringing the history alive. I felt I knew what it was like to walk the streets of Athens with one of the greatest men who ever lived.
Uhhhh...
Bettany Hughes regularly writes and presents programmes on the telly over here about the Classical world. She has overcome the burden of being pretty and shown she has depth and substance.
ay up
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
