Euripides: Bacchae (Cambridge Translations from Greek Drama) (Paperback)

by Euripides (Author), David Franklin (Editor) "The prologue was the opening scene before the Chorus entered..." (more)
Key Phrases: messenger speech, Mount Cithaeron, Theatre of Dionysus, American Repertory Theater

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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.

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"This text is one of the finest commentaries on any Greek play, and is also priced to be usable. Thank you!"--Linda Clader, Carleton College
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (September 11, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052165372X
• ISBN-13: 978-0521653725
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #33,137 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 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 (dublin, ireland) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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.

18 of 18 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.

14 of 14 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.