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The Three Theban Plays (Penguin Classics)
by: Sophocles

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 882.01
EAN: 9780140444254
ISBN: 0140444254
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 430
Publication Date: January 03, 2000
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Sales Rank: 24028
Studio: Penguin Classics

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Antigone defending her integrity and ideals to the death, Oedipus questing for his identity and achieving immortality - these heroic figures have moved playgoers and readers since the fifth century BC. Towering over the rest of Greek tragedy, these three plays are among the most enduring and timeless dramas ever written. Robert Fagles' translation conveys all of Sophocles' lucidity and power: the cut and thrust of his dialogue, his ironic edge, the surge and majesty of his choruses and, above all, the agonies and triumphs of his characters.

Amazon.com Review:
Aristotle called 'Oedipus The King,' the second-written of the three Theban plays written by Sophocles, the masterpiece of the whole of Greek theater. Today, nearly 2,500 years after Sophocles wrote, scholars and audiences still consider it one of the most powerful dramatic works ever made. Freud sure did. The three plays--'Antigone,' 'Oedipus the King,' and 'Oedipus at Colonus'--are not strictly a trilogy, but all are based on the Theban myths that were old even in Sophocles' time. This particular edition was rendered by Robert Fagles, perhaps the best translator of the Greek classics into English.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Must Have for Serious Study
No one can study the greek classics without these titles; a spring board to other works. Page layouts are easily read (numbered and indexed with referent notes). Each offering is accompanied by its own introduction loaded with connections!

Rating:

- DRAMA
The three Theban plays are a great way to introduce high school student into classical Greek literature. While the introductions can be lengthy, and give away the story, the plays are quite short and good for students like myself with the attention span of a infant. Both plays a very dramatic and filled with scandal which is something that the tens of today can relate to. The first play, Antigone, tells of a woman who fights for her right to give her brother a proper burial, and even though she is dating the son of the king she is sentenced to death. This causes uproar within the royal family eventually showing that the king's rash actions and need for power leads to the dismantling of his own household.
The second play, Oedipus the King, tells the tale the grown son of the king of Thebes that had been given away at birth, in an effort to avoid a prophecy by a blind prophet. Everything that they tried ... Read More

Rating:

- Excellent But Not The Best; 4.5 Stars
This is a fine translation of Sophocles' great Oedipus trilogy. Fagles has rendered these plays into fluent English with a fine feel for how to vary the nature of the language between characters and scenes. That said, I still prefer the older Fitts/Fitzgerald translations, which are a model of restrained but powerful poetic expression. I think Fagles' translations of Homer are the finest available but he has not done quite as well with these plays. A very nice feature of this edition are the fine introductions to the plays and a short discussion of the history of the texts.

Rating:

- Translations
Researching translations is never an easy task, and in this case, where you'll have to search on Amazon for the title and the translator to find what you want, it's particularly difficult.

Here's what I've found by comparing several editions:

1. David Grene translation: Seems to be accurate, yet not unwieldy as such. My pick. Language is used precisely, but not to the point where it's barely in English.

2. Fitts/Fitzgerald translation: Excellent as well, though a little less smooth than the Grene one. Certainly not a bad pick.

3. Fagles translation: Beautiful. Not accurate. If you are looking for the smoothest English version, there's no doubt that this is it. That said, because he is looser with the translation, some ideas might be lost. For instance, in Antigone, in the beginning, Antigone discusses how law compels her to bury her brother despite Creon's ... Read More

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