Customer Reviews

Aeschylus, 1 : The Oresteia : Agamemnon, the Libation Bearers, the Eumenides (Penn Greek Drama Series)

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This was the first time I have read a Greek play except for exerpts in college -- I was following the guide to drama given in The Educated Mind by Bauer. Reading this made me want to read more Greek plays in the Penn Greek drama series. I think the plays are elegantly written, as they are not so wordy as other translations. I see they are knocked a bit for being too free a translation - but I will say I was absolutely spellbound by Agamemnon, and I doubt that would have happened in a more typical translation.

I picked up the Slavitt translation of Aeschylus Oresteia off a publisher's overstock rack at a bookstore. I have enjoyed reading these plays, however, Slavitt's translation leaves me wanting.

Some have complained that Slavitt is too modern and a bit too, well, guteral. My greek is admittedly weak, but the Greeks were certainly not prudes and often this aspect is covered up in our translations.

After seeing a few complaints on the web, I tried comparing a few other translations at the local library. In almost all cases I found Ted Hughes's version to be both more interesting and also clearer. Hughes, like Slavitt is not the most "literal" translation, but he makes it a great read.

I am not enough of a Greek Scholar to recomend a more literal version, but it looks like people have good things to say about Fagles's version.

A bit uneven in spots, the translation is overall easy to read and highly recommended for highschool or lower level university classes. Students unfamiliar with this material need modern diction and syntax, despite what the reviewer from Japan opines, and this translation provides them.

But other than it being boring it was pretty good. It gave a good review of history and let me see how it was back then. Thanx! APRYL AMIS