
The Complete Plays of Sophocles : A New Translation
The Complete Plays of Sophocles : A New Translation
Sophocles
ISBN: 9780062020345
Out of stock
Paperback
Usually dispatched in 1 business day
Overview
Sophocles was the dominant Athenian playwright
of the fifth century BCE.
His best-known work, the three-play "Oedipus cycle" ("Oedipus the
King", "Oedipus at Kolonos", and "Antigone"), traces three generations
of a family ravaged by the inscrutably vindictive god Apollo, who
manipulates his victims into committing unforgivable acts of incest,
patricide, and kin murder. In "Elektra and the Women of Trakhis"
Sophocles portrays two women who act righteously to save themselves and
support those they love, yet do so in ways that betray and diminish
their own humanity. In his less familiar but riveting war-zone
dramas, "Philoktetes" and "Aias", Sophocles works through the political
and moral crises of war-weary, traumatized soldiers-a fact of life not
only for the Trojan War-era protagonists of these plays but for war
veterans and their families in Sophocles' Athens. All are caught up in
situations we recognize - including the feeling of being played by
powers beyond our control. The effectiveness and timeliness of
Sophocles' dramas depend on translations such as these to resonate,
intellectually and emotionally, with a contemporary audience. For a new
generation entering the turbulent arena of ancient Greek
drama, translators Robert Bagg and James Scully have produced a vivid,
dynamic, and eminently readable translation in "The Complete Plays of
Sophocles".