The Bacchae (Meridian classics) [Paperback]

Euripides (Author), Michael Cacoyannis (Translator, Introduction)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0452008859 | ISBN-13: 978-0452008854 | Publication Date: February 1, 1987

"Using to the full the last half century's great accessions to the comparative study of religion, [Dodds] has given a coherent and convincing reconstruction of the Dionysiac background--and, indeed, foreground--of the play, illustrating it with many instructive non-Greek and modern parallels.... Equally instructive and stimulating is the acute analysis of the play's dramatic elements, its characters, scenes, conflicts, actions, speeches.... This edition far surpasses its predecessors in vitality, sympathy, and scope."--W.B. Stanford, Hermathena LXV. Including a comprehensive discussion of the play's background and an incisive assessment of its dramatic structure, this edition makes an outstanding contribution to Euripides scholarship.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

also called Bacchants (Greek plural Bakchai) Drama produced about 406 BC by Euripides. It is regarded by many as his masterpiece. In Bacchae the god Dionysus arrives in Greece from Asia intending to introduce his orgiastic worship there. He is disguised as a charismatic young Asian holy man and is accompanied by his women votaries, who make up the play's chorus. He expects to be accepted first in Thebes, but the Thebans reject his divinity and refuse to worship him, and the city's young king, Pentheus, tries to arrest him. In the end Dionysus drives Pentheus insane and leads him to the mountains, where Pentheus' own mother, Agave, and the women of Thebes in a bacchic frenzy tear him to pieces. -- The Merriam-Webster Encylopedia of Literature --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Greek

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Product Details

• Paperback: 85 pages
• Publisher: Meridian (February 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452008859
• ISBN-13: 978-0452008854
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #983,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The most verbally extravagant of all Greek dramas., August 29, 2001

By 

darragh o'donoghue - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bacchae (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

If, like me, you had Greek Tragedy down as an austere thing, full of parched plains, unswerving Fate and dour verse, then 'The Bacchae' might come as a pleasant surprise. It has these things of course, but the first quality that shocks is the vibrant, fervid excess of the language. The story concerns Dionysus, the God of wine, the Life Force, the Chaos of the Irrational etc., who inspires a possessed devotion in his acolytes, as they express themselves in high-flown, ecstatic rhapsodies. Not every one takes this proto-hippie's divinity seriously, in particular the family of his mortal mother, led by the impetuous teenage king Pentheus, who sees all this Bacchanalia in the woods and mountains in loose robes as so much lechery. Dionysus exacts such terrible revenge on these unbelievers that 'Bacchae' makes Shakespeare's 'Titus Andronicus' look like a Julie Andrews vehicle.
If Sophocles' 'Oedipus the King' is the first detective story, than 'Bacchae' might be the first police procedural - a central sequence sees Pentheus arrest Dionysus and interrogate him, a scene as tightly written and suspenseful as any thriller. But detection and policing, embodying the forces of reason and the Law, have no power against the Irrational or Unknowable, and Pentheus is soon made mad, his order and sense of self in tatters. The terrible grip of irony familiar from Greek Tragedy gives the play a violent momentum, but the most extraordinary scenes take place offstage, related in vivid and tumultuous monolgues by messengers - the whirlwind revenge of Dionysus' female followers on the forces of surveilling civilisation, and the cruel enactment of the God's revenge. This idea of hearing about improbable catastrophes but not being able to see them adds ot the supernatural terror that is the play's fevered life-blood.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best translations out there, June 11, 2003

By 

Colleen Sentance - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bacchae (Paperback)

I am a classical history major with a focus on poetry and drama. I have actually read Bacchae in Attic Greek and I have to say that I find this translation to be one of the most fluid and natural of any that I have ever read. I would highky recommend this to anyone looking for a well-written, very gory introduction to Greek theatre. This edition is also great for using as a script, wheras many translations are good only for reading. I just put up a production using this translation and my actors were very comfortable with the wonderful language Woodruff uses.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, December 4, 2000

By 

Ashareh (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bacchae (Paperback)

A solid translation of the fascinating and passionate story of Dionysus in Thebes, although it lacks the lyricism of other translations. Woodruff's version is meant to be performed aloud, and so it has more of the feel of a play to it. Students of literature and classics might want a different version; students of drama and theatre would be interested in this translation.