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Electra and Other Plays (Paperback)
Sophocles; Introduction by Pat Easterling; Notes by Pat Easterling; Translated by David Raeburn
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Demonstrating Sophocles' aptitude for humanising figures from Greek
myth and transforming simple fables into complex high tragedy,
Electra and Other Plays is translated by David Raeburn with an
introduction and notes by Pat Easterling. The plays collected in
this volume show Sophocles' ability to create complex human
characters struggling with profound moral issues. In Women of
Trachis the agonizing death of the mighty Heracles is brought about
by a tragic mistake made by his jealous wife Deianeira, as she
attempts to regain his love. Set in the aftermath of the Trojan
War, Ajax depicts a warrior driven into a homicidal rage that leads
to his undoing, and Electra shows the grief-stricken children of
the murdered Agamemnon and their plot to avenge him, while
Philoctetes portrays the cunning Odysseus' attempt to convince a
famed archer to rejoin the Greek expedition against Troy,
undermined by the honesty of his young comrade Neoptolemus. David
Raeburn's translation captures the rhythms of the original Greek,
while remaining accessible to modern readers. Pat Easterling's
general introduction discusses Athenian dramatic festivals, and the
structure and tensions of the plays and their characters. This
edition also includes a chronology, further reading, prefaces to
each play and notes. Sophocles (496-405 BC) was born at Colonus,
just outside Athens. His long life spanned the rise and decline of
the Athenian Empire; he was a friend of Pericles, and though not an
active politician he held several public offices, both military and
civil. The leader of a literary circle and friend of Herodotus,
Sophocles wrote over a hundred plays, drawing on a wide and varied
range of themes, and winning the City Dionysia eighteen times;
though only seven of his tragedies have survived, among them
Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Ajax and Oedipus at Colonus. If you enjoyed
Electra and Other Plays, you might like Sophocles' The Three Theban
Plays, also available in Penguin Classics.
This collection of twenty essays examines the art, profession and
idea of the actor in Greek and Roman antiquity, and has been
commissioned and arranged to cast as much interdisciplinary and
transhistorical light as possible on these elusive but fascinating
ancient professionals. It covers a chronological span from the
sixth century BC to Byzantium (and even beyond to the way that
ancient actors have influenced the arts from the Renaissance to the
twentieth century) and stresses the huge geographical spread of
ancient actors. Some essays focus on particular themes, such as the
evidence for women actors or the impact of acting on the
presentation of suicide in literature; others offer completely new
evidence, such as graffiti relating to actors in Asia Minor; others
ask new questions, such as what subjective experience can be
reconstructed for the ancient actor. There are numerous
illustrations and all Greek and Latin passages are translated.
This series of twenty complementary essays by experts in the field explores the art, social status, reputation and image of the ancient actor in the Greek and Roman worlds, from the sixth century B.C. to the Byzantine period. It covers tragedy, comedy, mime and pantomime and offers a full overview of the most important ancient evidence. In some essays new questions are asked, and in others, completely new evidence is offered. Numerous illustrations are included and all Greek and Latin passages are translated.
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