Seneca: The Tragedies (Complete Roman Drama in Translation) [Hardcover]

Salve Seneca (Author), Mr. David R. Slavitt (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Complete Roman Drama in Translation | Publication Date: April 1, 1992

"The language in these translations [is] as fresh and gleaming as blood just spilled."--Eleanor Wilner.

"Slavitt's translation is... lively and sometimes witty."--TimesLiterary Supplement.

"A good, sensational Senecan read."--Queen's Quarterly

The volume includes Trojan Women, Thyestes, Phaedra, Medea, and Agamemnon, plus a preface.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Slavitt's ability is clearly in evidence... These translations are rendered in lucid, contemporary English, bringing before us the atrocities, horrors, and grotesqueries of Imperial Rome." -- Classical Outlook

Book Description

Plays and translators: Octavia, Kelly Cherry * Hercules Oetaeus, Stephen Sandy * Oedipus, Rachel Hadas * The Phoenician Women, David Slavitt * Hercules Furens, Dana Gioia.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (April 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801843081
• ISBN-13: 978-0801843082
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,134,683 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but often more adaptation than translation, October 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Seneca: The Tragedies (Volume 2) (Paperback)

The "translations" in this two volume set aim at capturing the flavor of Seneca in roughly the same number of lines of poetry (most translations are longer than the originals, expanding upon the compacted Latin for the sake of literalness). These are good reading, and do capture something of the power of Senecan tragedy. But teachers should beware that they are often interpretive adaptations rather than literal translations. Ideas are often added to clarify the translators' sense of what a speech is about, for example. These occasionally obtrusive choices make these texts less than optimal for certain kinds of classroom teaching.