Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

(Kitto edition, Kindle). I am not an expert on translations and don't read the original Greek. But my conclusion is that it is a good idea to not rely on a single translation to get the full meaning. This is not a fault of any one version, since it is impossible (probably) to cover every point. However, I was disappointed in the some aspects of the Kitto translation and the editor's notes. For example,in the famous Chorus' Ode to the Human Being in Antigone, the human being is apparently described by the Greek word "deinon" which has (apparently) the double meaning of both wonderful and terrible, so the praise is ambiguous, but this crucial point doesn't really come out in the Kitto. But then I assume Kitto does other things right that others don't.

I purchased this for my daughter who is taking an AP English class. She thought that she would need to purchase the book but, in fact, the school provided it so she had one for school and one for home. I plan to read the book after she is finished since I have never read the book. I am happy with the purchase and feel I got the book for a very good price.

Basically i bought this book for my english class, and comparing this book to other books the school uses it is much better, might as well buy something worth more of an educational value, than use the books text book. My friends have another class and got the same book(But i mean title wise) and because it is greek translated, theirs was more simple. So if you want a book that explains more of what is going on in the story, rather than something very simple and explains everything for you already. I recommend this book because it makes you think( since it is more complex ) which is helps you learn.

oedipus the king, antigone, electra, this are the master pieaces of the greek tragedy. sophocles brings us the wonderfull mitology stories in a fantastic point of view. the bloody legassy that oedipus brings on his family apears on this wonderfull dramas. this tragedies are the finest creation of the greek culture, and a must to reed for any literture fan all over the world. the "hibris"- the crime of pride brings the characters in this dramas to a tragic death, and are realated to the deepest sides in the man soul/

This bookstore made sure that the book arrived at the latest possible date. I tryed to contact the owner the only way possible, e-mail, 3 times and never got any responses with regaurds to my order. I will NEVER order from this place again nor would I ever recommend them. I sincerely request no one else takes the chance, unless you don't mind waiting 3 weeks for an in-country order, ordering from this store. I was EXTREMELY displeased with the lack of professionalism.

This book is very boring. I was very sorry that I had to read it.