New English versions of Lysistrata, The Frogs, The Birds, and Ladies' Day. "Thanks to Dudley Fitts...we can appreciate Aristophanes' vigor, his robust style, his scorching wit, his earthy humor, his devotion to honesty and his poetic imagination" (Brooks Atkinson, New York Times). Index.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Dudley Fitts (1903-1968), a renowned poet, critic and translator, authored and translated over 20 books. One of the preeminent twentieth century scholars of Greek literature, his English translations of the ancient Greek classics are much praised for their accessibility and their appeal to contemporary readers.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Ultimate Aristophanes,
By A Customer
This review is from: Aristophanes: Four Comedies (Paperback)
"Whiiiine, I don't want to read old Greek plays...they're so booooring", you say? Well, you might think that is true, especially if one your teachers bludgeoned you with the horrible British translations of Aristophanes that were done in the nineteenth century. The Victorian prudes of the nineteenth century were deeply embarrassed by the content of the Greek comedies. They felt that penis jokes were not the sort of morally uplifting things that the ancients should have talked about. All that changes with the Dudley Fitts translation. Fitts bring life back to old Aristophanes. The pace is quick and the dialogue is hysterically funny. Aristophanes was the leading wit of his time. If you can imagine a mix of P.J. O'Rourke and Jim Carrey, then you'd be close to getting at Aristophanes. The humor is sharp and often over the top, often with very earthy overtones; essentially, Greek. You really haven't read Aristophanes until you've Fitts' "Aristophanes:F! our Comedies." This is a translation to be enjoyed by all and not to dreaded as a crime to assign and punishment to read.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Big yuks in Old Greece,
By rgetter@ix.netcom.com (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Aristophanes: Four Comedies (Paperback)
Years (many years) ago when I was an English major at UMass, we were given two translations of Aristophanes "The Birds" to read in order to make a point about reading translations. One was by a translator whose name I forgot (and gladly so). The other was by Mr. Fitts. The first was as boring as the ininitiated would expect a Greek comedy to be. But Fitts version, far truer to the original according to our professor, was totally bizarre and remarkably funny. It is as vibrant and eye-opening as Fagles translations of Homer.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great translation,
By blondwonderwoman (Hughson, CA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Aristophanes: Four Comedies (Paperback)
Aristophanes' The Frogs is not an easy read, and there are many poor translations available today which make it even worse. This translation was easy to follow and very well written. I am working on my MA in Theatre used this translation to write an adaptation of the play with a professor of mine. We found it to be the most modern adaptation that still maintained the integrity of the original piece.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
Lysistrata was written in 412 B.C., and the evidence points to its production at the Athenian festival of the Lenaia in January 411. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
saffron gown Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Hattie Mischa, Divine Authority, Good God, Scholiast Page, Sicilian Expedition, Heavenly Twins, Hippolytos of Euripides, Van Leeuwen New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Lysistrata was written in 412 B.C., and the evidence points to its production at the Athenian festival of the Lenaia in January 411. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
saffron gown Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Hattie Mischa, Divine Authority, Good God, Scholiast Page, Sicilian Expedition, Heavenly Twins, Hippolytos of Euripides, Van Leeuwen New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 5
books:
2
books
cite this book:
- The Trojan Women (Plays for Performance Series) by Nicholas Rudall on page 373, and page 375
- The House of Brass by Ellery Queen on page 77
- Oedipus Rex (Dover Thrift Editions) by Sophocles in Front Matter
- Owls to Athens (Hellenistic Seafaring Adventure) by H. N. Turteltaub on page 207
- The Iphigenia in Tauris by Euripides on page 182
- A Short History of Greek Literature by Jacqueline de Romilly in Back Matter
- Women, Androgynes, and Other Mythical Beasts by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty in Back Matter
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
