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Alcestis (Paperback, New Ed)
Loot Price: R684
Discovery Miles 6 840
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Alcestis (Paperback, New Ed)
Series: Greek Tragedy in New Translations
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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At once a vigorous translation of one of Euripides' most subtle and
witty plays, and a wholly fresh interpretation, this version
reveals for the first time the extraordinary formal beauty and
thematic concentration of the Alcestis. The late William
Arrowsmith, who was an eminent classical scholar, translator, and
General Editor of this highly praised series, rejects the standard
view of the Alcestis as a psychological study of the egotist
Admetos and his naive but devoted wife. His translation, instead,
presents the play as a drama of human existence-in keeping with the
tradition of Greek tragedy-with recognizably human characters who
also represent masked embodiments of human conditions. The Alcestis
thus becomes a metaphysical tragicomedy in which Admetos, who has
heretofore led a life without limitations, learns to "think mortal
thoughts." He acquires the knowledge of limits-the acceptance of
death as well as the duty to live-which, according to Euripides,
makes people meaningfully human and capable of both courage and
compassion. This new interpretation compellingly argues that, for
Euripides, suffering humanizes, that exemption makes a man selfish
and childish, and that only the courage to accept both life and
death leads to the realization of one's humanity, and, in the case
of Alcestis, to heroism.
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