Customer Reviews

The Complete Plays of Jean Racine, Volume I: Iphigenia, Andromache, Britannicus

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Exquisite! I haven't enjoyed reading drama so much since I discovered Ibsen and Chekhov 35 years ago. You find yourself reading long passages aloud, just to see how they would sound on the stage.

The introduction by the translator, which is lengthy, is quite stimulating and provides a wonderful introduction to the plays in particular, and to the problems of translation in general.

The achievement here in presenting (centuries old) dramas as fresh and relevant for modern readers is quite immodest, as should be the translator.

I can't speak nor can I write a single intelligible word in French. Yet, in this translation I am captured in the world of Racine. Rather than dress up a translation in a manner that is both bad and inaccessible, Argent has managed to deliver these few bits in easily understood English. The fact that he uses the `rhymed couplet' is meaningless to the lay person but the effect is noticed immediately after the first few lines. The three stories of "Iphigenia", "Andromache", and "Britannicus" are three separate works. The first deals with the period before the Trojan War, in which the Greek ships are unable to set sail due to the lack of wind meanwhile the entire Greek army is stagnating, and discipline is breaking down. In order to change this and bring on the winds, Agamemnon, is told that he must sacrifice his favorite daughter Iphigenia who also happens to be Achilles' fiancé. While in "Andromache", Agamemnon's son Orestes is caught up in a love quadrangle and is talked into killing the king of Epirus after the woman he loves, Hermione, becomes enraged at the king for marrying Hectors wife Andromache instead of her...in short a very messy situation. The story of Britannicus takes us to the Roman empire, Nero, his mother, and the usual mix of intrigue and strange circumstances. At any rate this is definitely a great read for the average person to enjoy.