Research Catalog

Title

The complete plays of Sophocles : a new translation / Robert Bagg and James Scully.

Author

Sophocles

Publication

New York : Harper Perennial, c2011.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Bagg, Robert
• Scully, James

Description

xxxvii, 842 p.; 21 cm.

Summary

"The dominant Athenian playwright in fifth-century-BCE Athens, Sophocles left us seven powerful dramas that still shock as they render the violence that erupts within divinity and humankind. Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Kolonos, and Antigone trace three generations of a family manipulated by the inscrutably vindictive god Apollo to commit patricide, incest, and kin murder. Elektra and Women of Trakhis begin as studies of women obsessed with hatred and desire but become dissenting critiques of the Greeks' enthusiasm for revenge and ego-crazed heroics. Two hard-hitting dramas set in war zones, Aias and Philoktetes, use conflicts among Greek warriors at Troy to thrash out political and ethical crises confronting Athenian society itself. These translations, modern in idiom while faithful to the Greek and already proven stageworthy, preserve the depth and subtlety of Sophocles' characters and refresh and clarify his narratives. Their focus on communities under extreme stress still resonates deeply for us here and now. This is Sophocles for a new generation entering the turbulent arena of ancient Greek drama." -- Page 4 of cover.

Subject

• Sophocles > Translations into English
• Sophocles > Criticism and interpretation
• Mythology, Greek > Drama
• Greek drama (Tragedy) > Translations into English

Genre/Form

• Translations into English.
• Drama

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [833]-839)

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

When theater was life: the world of Sophocles -- Aias. Introduction: Achiles is dead ; Play -- Women of Trakhis. Introduction: "You've seen nothing that is not Zeus" ; Play -- Philoktetes. Introduction: Sophocles at 87 ; Play -- Elektra. Introduction: "Haven't you realized the dead...are alife?" ; Play -- Oedipus the King. Introduction: "Something...I remember...wakes up terrified" ; Play -- Oedipus at Kolonos. Introduction: "His death was a cause for wonder" ; Play -- Antigone. Introduction: "From what kind of parents was I born?" ; Play -- Notes to the plays -- Works cited and consulted -- Acknowledgments.

ISBN

• 9780062020345
• 006202034X

OCLC

• 670476267
• SCSB-12176539

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library