Review (PDF) Antigone, Oedipus The King, Electra (Oxford World's Classics)
This volume of Antigone, Oedipus the King, Electra contains three masterpieces by the Greek playwright Sophocles, widely regarded since antiquity as the greatest of all the tragic poets. The vivid translations, which combine elegance and modernity, are remarkable for their lucidity and accuracy, and are equally suitable for reading for pleasure, study, or theatrical performance. With this edition, readers are not only offered the most influential and famous of Sophocles' works in one volume, but they are presented with two plays dominated by a female heroic figure, and the experience of the two great dynasties featured in Greek tragedy--the houses of Oedipus and Agamemnon.About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
Series: Oxford World's Classics
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; Reissue edition (February 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0199537178
ISBN-13: 978-0199537174
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 0.7 x 5 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #151,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #23 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Dramas & Plays > Tragedy #46 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Ancient & Medieval Literature > Greek #86 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Genres & Styles > Drama
Researching translations is never an easy task, and in this case, where you'll have to search on 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 edict. In Fagles, the "law" concept is lost in "military honors" when discussing the burial of Eteocles. This whole notion of obeying positive law or natural law is very important, but you wouldn't know it from Fagles. In Grene, for example, it is translated to "lawful rites."4. Gibbons and Segal: Looks great, but right now the book has only Antigone (and not the rest of the trilogy) and costs almost 3x as much. I'll pass. But, from a cursory review, I'm impressed with their work.5. MacDonald: This edition received some good write-ups, but I wasn't able to do a direct passage-to-passage comparison.6. Woodruff: NO, NO, NO. Just NO. It's so colloquial it makes me gag. Very accessible, but the modernization of the language is just so extreme as to make it almost laughable. You don't get any sense of the power of language in the play.
The Three Theban Plays: Antigone - Oedipus the King - Oedipus at Colonus (Theban Plays of Sophocles - Antigone - Oedipus the King - Oedipus at Colonus) The Complete Works of Sophocles: Ajax, Antigone, Electra, Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus the King, Philoctetes, Trachiniae (7 Books With Active Table of Contents) Antigone, Oedipus the King, Electra (Oxford World's Classics) The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus; Antigone Sophocles, The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone The Oedipus Plays: Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus SparkNotes Literature Guide (SparkNotes Literature Guide Series) The Theban Plays: King Oedipus; Oedipus at Colonus; Antigone (Penguin Classics) Sophocles I: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus (The Complete Greek Tragedies) The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus & other Bonus works Sophocles I: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus (The Complete Greek Tragedies Book 1) The Theban Plays: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone (Dover Thrift Editions) The Theban Plays: "Oedipus the Tyrant"; "Oedipus at Colonus"; "Antigone" (Agora Editions) Greek Tragedies 1: Aeschylus: Agamemnon, Prometheus Bound; Sophocles: Oedipus the King, Antigone; Euripides: Hippolytus Greek Tragedies, Vol. 1: Agamemnon/Prometheus Bound/Oedipus the King/Antigone/Hippolytus Greek Tragedies, Volume 2 The Libation Bearers (Aeschylus), Electra (Sophocles), Iphigenia in Tauris, Electra, & The Trojan Women (Euripides) Oedipus the King (Enriched Classics) Sophocles: Electra (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics) Oedipus the King (Greek Tragedy in New Translations) King Oedipus King Lear: Oxford School Shakespeare (Oxford School Shakespeare Series)
