Antigone, Oedipus the King, Electra (Oxford World's Classics) [Paperback]

Sophocles (Author), Edith Hall (Editor), H. D. F. Kitto (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Oxford World's Classics | Publication Date: September 17, 1998

This volume 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. The selection of Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Electra not only offers the reader the most influential and famous of Sophocles' works, it also presents in one volume the 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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Kitto's vigorous, accurate versions, made with production in mind, remain the best. Hall's lucid, informative, concise introduction with leads to further reading enhance the value of the volume considerably. I shall use it in classes."--William M. Calderist, University of Illinois

"Wonderfully brief, clear introductory notes."--Sr. Miriam Catherine Nevins, Dominican College

"Kitto's translations have aged will and Hall's introduction is excellent."--James R. Baron, The College of William and Mary

"The sort of inexpensive, practical edition we need."--J.C. Hogan, Allegheny College

"The price is right and next time I teach tragedy I would definitely consider using it."--Victor Estevez, University of Missouri

"A wonderful translation!"--Elizabeth Kiss, Princeton University

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Greek --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192835882
• ISBN-13: 978-0192835888
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #358,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #94 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > Classical & Early

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Translations, March 19, 2006

By 

S. Allen - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Electra (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

Researching translations is never an easy task, and in this case, where you'll have to search on Amazon 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. You just get the story. If you want this to be an easy read, then get Fagles, not this.

7. Kitto: Looks good, though not particularly compelling over either Grene or Fitzgerald (or Gibbons if I wanted to pay so much more).

8. Roche: Practically unreadable the English is so convoluted. Might be the most literal translation, but what's the point unless you are learning Greek and want such a direct translation.

9. Taylor: Way too wordy. Might be more literal, but again, why?

Hope this all helps. Translations can make or break the accessibility of literature. Pick wisely.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strong Translation, November 9, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Electra (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

H.D.F. Kitto was a distinguished interpreter of Greek tragedy. These translations, which were written for performance, are at once accurate, clear, and very elegant. Hall provides precisely as much information in the notes as the typical intelligent undergraduate requires. She also points out the few places in which Kitto has made minor departures from the Greek. I have found that undergraduates respond better to these translations than to those available in the Greene and Lattimore series published by the University of Chicago Press--though they too are good.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great translation, April 6, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Electra (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

As a Classics major, I've had to read these plays countless times. Last semester, I picked up this book while writing a paper on Electra, and I fell in love with it. The text that I had previously admired for its ideas I now respected as a work of art. Kitto's words bring a life and humanity to the text that other translations lack. It was like reading the plays again for the first time.