Customer Reviews

Cyrano De Bergerac

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

 

 

This is one of my favorite plays. There's humor, action, and romance. The banter and jokes always make me laugh. The character Cyrano has some fun wordplay -- being a dramatic, wordy, poet and fighter.

The story centers around Cyrano and his secret love for Roxanne. Despite his poetic nature, Cyrano has an abnormally large nose and believes he is unlovable. Cyrano helps another man, Christian, woo Roxanne. The story continues, but I wouldn't want to ruin it for a new reader.

I highly suggest this to anyone that enjoys a good romantic story. It's also a good read for anyone that likes 1800's-early 1900's literature.

Anthony Burgess steps out of his psycodelic shell to bring a down to earth translation of the worlds greatest love story. Rostand created a tale true to the human heart filled with romance and poetry, but it took Anthony Burgess to bring the story to the modern reader. There are no 'thee's' or 'thou's' in this adaption, just natural, modern writing. In essence, Burgess did not translate Rostands classic play, he wrote the story over as a poem. Burgess did Rostand the greatest honour, making Cyrano De Bergerac, a wonderfull romance, and beautiful story accessable to modern audiences

Even if you can appreciate the subtleties of the original French, this translation of the Rostand classic breathes a fresh, exciting perspective into the characters. Shunning a strict translation of the original, Burgess weaves a tapestry of elegant English that conforms to the meter of the original without being dogmatic. The result is a masterful adaptation that makes the play approachable to a wider audience while capturing the longing of unrequited love from the original; go ahead and read your favorite passages aloud to really appreciate the playful use of language.

I read this book too many years ago. It is a well written book. We all know the story. But it is enjoyable to read "again, for the first time". I recommend you try it.

The first third or so of this play was kind of slow, but most of that was introduction of the characters, so that could be forgiven. But then about halfway through, this play became hilariously funny. I truly laughed out loud at parts. The ending is sad and bittersweet, but in my opinion it is not quite tragic. Cyrano de Bergerac has to be one of the most individualistic and heroic literary figures of all time.

The hard bound copy of Cyrano de Bergerac that I received looked like bound xerox copies of pages from a smaller book. The page copies were faded at times, at other times, they had bands of darker ink across the page. The book pages were about 1/3 larger than the copy pages which were centered on the book pages. Truly inferior book copy, I have never seen anything like it. I am not a complainer. I have never written a review before let alone one that is so critical of a product.

The book was in better condition than the description made it out to be and the price was very reasonable. Definitely recommended.

The Hooker and Burgess translations are excellent. This one is dull, pedantic, pedestrian and boring. Very little of the wit and spirit of the Rostand original manages to come through. The two translators have taken one of the greatest plays in the French language and reduced it to rubbish.

I have had this recording for many years. My original copy is on vinyl. Not only is it extremely well acted, but one almost feels like they are in the locations of the play, the theater, the bakery, the battlefront.

This book came quickly, and was the correct book for the reading list for my daughter who is in the 10th grade. We both love used books and have never been diasppointed in their purchase. This one was no exception!