Aeschylus, 2 : The Persians, Seven Against Thebes, the Suppliants, Prometheus Bound (Penn Greek Drama Series) [Paperback]

Aeschylus (Editor), David R Slavitt (Editor), Gail Holst-Warhaft (Author), William Matthews (Author)

Book Description

Series: Penn Greek Drama Series | Publication Date: January 1, 1998

The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander.

This final volume of the tragedies of Aeschylus relates the historic defeat and dissolution of the Persian Empire on the heels of Xerxes disastrous campaign to subdue Greece, the struggle between the two sons of Oedipus for the throne of Thebes, the story of fifty daughters who seek asylum from their uncle, the king of Egypt, because of his demand that they marry his sons, and the well-known tale of the proud and unrepentant Prometheus, who is chained to a massive rock for revealing fire and hope to humankind.

Translations are by David Slavitt (Persians), Stephen Sandy (Seven Against Thebes), Gail Holst-Warhaft (The Suppliants), and William Matthews (Prometheus Bound).

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for the Penn Greek Drama Series:

"Directness, vivid imagery, and rhetorical music prevail."—San Francisco Chronicle

"A boon for classicists and general readers alike. For the reader who comes to tragedy for the first time, these translations are eminently 'accessible,' and consummately American in tone and feeling. For the classicist, these versions constitute an ambitious reinterpretation of traditional masterpieces; after 2,500 years, the poetry of Euripides and Aeschylus has found a new voice—in fact, ten of them."—Boston Book Review

About the Author

About the Translators: Gail Holst-Warhaft graduated from Melbourne University and received her Ph.D. degree in comparative literature from Cornell University, where she now teaches classics and modern Greek and is active in Balkan studies. She has lectured and taught also in Australia, Portugal, Greece, and Thailand. Her translations of the poems of Nikos Kavadias won the Columbia University translation prize. She has written extensively on Greek popular music and is currently completing a book on the traditional and contemporary manipulation of grief. Her recent books include Mauthausen (translation of a novel by Iakovos Kambanellis), Dangerous Voices: Women's Laments and Greek Literature, Achilles' Fiancee (translation of a novel by Alki Zei), and Road to Rembetika: Music of a Greek Sub-culture (currently in its fifth edition and available in several translations). William Matthews was the author of more than a dozen books, including eight of original poetry and two of translation. His Selected Poems and Translations appeared in 1992. He received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Ingram Merrill Foundation; his poetry received the Oscar Blumenthal Award, the Eunice Tietjens Memorial Prize, and the Union League Prize. He taught at Wells College, Cornell University, the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Columbia University, University of Washington, New York University, City College of New York, and elsewhere. Mr. Matthews served on the editorial board of Weslyean University Press and as poetry editor of Iowa Review. He was president of the Poetry Society of America from 1985-89. He died before he could see his translation of Prometheus Bound achieve publication. Stephen Sandy graduated from Yale and received his Ph.D. degree from Harvard University, where he has taught. He has taught also at Tokyo University, Brown University, the Wesleyan University Writers Conference, The Writing Center at the Chautauqua Institution, and Davidson College. His numerous awards and grants include a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Foundation fellowship; a Fulbright Lectureship, the Academy of American Poets Prize, a Dexter Fellowship, Harvard Monthly Prize, Javits Fellowships, and Yaddo residencies. He has been on the faculty of Bennington College since 1969. He is the author of ten books; his New and Selected Poems is forthcoming. David R. Slavitt was educated at Andover and Yale and has published more than sixty books: original poetry (recently Eight Longer Poems), translations (recently Broken Columns, of Statius and Claudian), novels (recently Lives of the Saints), critical works (recently Virgil), and short stories. He worked for seven years as a journalist at Newsweek and continues to do freelance reporting and reviewing. With Palmer Bovie he coedited the series Complete Roman Drama in Translation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812216717
• ISBN-13: 978-0812216714
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,690,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor translation of The Persians, August 21, 2005

By 

Sara M. Palaskas - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aeschylus, 2 : The Persians, Seven Against Thebes, the Suppliants, Prometheus Bound (Penn Greek Drama Series) (Paperback)

I must preface this by saying that my view of this book is colored by the translation of the Persians, which is the only play I will discuss hear. It is hard for anyone who has read Aeschylus' work to fathom how Slavitt could call his interpretation of The Persians a translation. The fact that he inserts a new character, "The Prologue", automatically qualifies it as a far cry from "loyal to the Greek original[s]". Also, in complete contrast to Aeshylus' ability to exhibit human emotion and circumstance through the use of beautiful and powerful language, Slavitt resorts to a heavy heaping of cursing not only to convey anger, but to portray the Persians in the most base manner possible.
Slavitt's work could be described as a piece based on the ancient play, but nothing more than that. His interpretation is laden with prejudices formed from modern conflicts and political situations. He is clearly making an attempt to draw a modern American audience into what he thinks the message and emotions of the play was in ancient Athens. Unfortunately for those interested in ancient literature, Slavitt sees Aeshylus' "message" through the perspective of a very opinionated 20th and 21st century conservative American. This is a complete failure as a translation, but a good example of how scholars can alter texts and stories to fit their personal agendas. I feel sorry for the poor light that this play sheds on the rest of the book. But if the cover specifically states that these are "loyal" translations, it is a slap in the face when one reads such a loose adherance to the original texts (which even Bovie admits to in his prologue to Seven Against Thebes, although his work does not reach the "non-literal" level that Slavitt's The Persians did...).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Horrific "translation"., April 19, 2009

By 

No one of consequence (Cincinnati) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Aeschylus, 2 : The Persians, Seven Against Thebes, the Suppliants, Prometheus Bound (Penn Greek Drama Series) (Paperback)

To anyone who enjoys classic Greek drama, I have one small bit of advice: avoid this book. I am generally open to translators taking some latitude and license with translations of classic texts, but in this instance that approach is stretched far beyond what is reasonable. David Slavitt engages in nothing short of raw butchery as he heaps the text with anachronistic references, slang and vulgarity. What could possibly make Slavitt think it is appropriate to include in "The Persians" a reference to a "thousand-year reich"??? Xerxes as Hitler? No thanks! In an effort to "modernize" these stories, Slavitt succeeds only in destroying their dignity. The result is a "translation" that bears little resemblance to the original works. It's pretty tough to screw up badly enough to get a one-star rating from me, but Slavitt managed to do so. Simply awful.