Oedipus the King (Greek Tragedy in New Translations) - Hardcover

Sophocles; Berg, Stephen; Clay, Diskin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195023250 ISBN 13: 9780195023251

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1978

Synopsis

With attention to the intensity of spoken language, a poet and a classicist combine talents to create a new translation of Sophocles' tragic drama about the downfall of Oedipus after he murders his father and marries his mother

About this title

About the Author:

An Athenian dramatist and politician. He is known as the second of the three great Greek tragedians, preceded by Aeschylus and followed by Euripides. He distinguished himself at an early age: At the Athenian celebration of the victory at Salamis (480 BC), the 16-year-old Sophocles was the leader of the chorus of dancing and singing naked boys. A long line of scholars, beginning with Aristotle, considered Sophocles to be the greatest playwright among the ancients. He also won the Festival of Dionysus, an ancient dramatic festival, more times than any other. Records indicate that none of his plays earned anything lower than second place.

From AudioFile:

Aristotle admired OEDIPUS TYRANNOS as the pinnacle of tragic art. Indeed, aside from its fine poetry and Freudian undertones, it is a taut, suspenseful detective story. It is up to King Oedipus to ferret out and purge the town of whoever murdered his predecessor. This British production is a tad too reverential and somewhat pretentious. No accommodation is made to the sightless medium, making the action hard to follow. The choral odes drone on monotonously. There's little life in the production, but there's so much life in the play that it manages to shine brightly through the chinks. Y.R. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1978
• ISBN 10: 0195023250
• ISBN 13: 9780195023251
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 128