Customer Reviews

Sophocles, The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone

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This version of Sophocles's Oedipus trilogy--Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone--is a great edition for students and seasoned classicists alike. The translations by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald are modern while still being poetic, and complete while still being very, very fast-paced. For instance, I read Antigone in about forty minutes, and I'm a slow reader.

Fitts and Fitzgerald have sacrificed some accuracy and literalness to achieve their extraordinary pacing and readability, but while their translations are not always true to the original text, they more than make up for it with the sheer power which which they grab the reader. I had read Oedipus Rex before, but I had never felt it like this. The plays come alive for the reader. The tragic end of Oedipus Rex was particularly moving.

This edition includes some notes and commentary, but the works stand well on their own, without the comments of a later generation. Overall, though, the briskness and modern sound of these plays make this one of the best translations available to students today.

Highly recommended.

This is a very readable rendition of Sophocles' famous tragedies, by two of this century's most distinguished classicists and translators. My only caution: I would not recommend this translation to anyone trying to muddle through the Greek. As Fitzgerald readily admits, he has emphasized general meaning, conciseness and readability over strict adherence to the text, paraphrasing the original where he feels it's appropriate. I'm usually wary of this approach, but in this case I feel it makes the plays more accessible to the general reader, and more performable, than they would otherwise be. The end result is a lively and true homage to a great playwright whose ideas have shaped modern literature, drama, and psycology.

For anybody who wishes to read Sophocles' Oedipus cycle, the best translation available is definitely that of Paul Roche. However, for what they're worth, Fitts and Fitzgerald have given a fairly accurate though often too swiftly-paced version of Sophocles' great plays. At times, the translation sacrifices accuracy for tersity, and rarely does it reach the poetic excellence that Roche's clearly demonstrates. However, Fitzgerald's translations often require an acquired taste. If you enjoyed his odyssey (I do not), then you may enjoy his translations here as well.

~I had to read OEDIPUS REX for my pre-IB sophomore English class, feeling not too happy with another dull, lengthy Greek play (we had to read THE ODYSSEY last year, and it got really redundant). But Sophocles' play...wow, it's totally different! The characters are so much more real and the speeches are deep and engrossing. Thebes is fascinating, substantial - and the issues grip you unknowingly. ...When you finally resurface, you feel touched and bewildered at the same time!

Throughout~~ THE OEDIPUS CYCLE run themes of fate and visions of free will amid reality. These elements reveal the universal truth: of human blindness to fate and truth; their blind resolutions that, in reality, lead them to their fate. Tragedy is forged between a character~{!/~}s personality and the inevitable events connected to it. Although the doctrine of predestination rejects independent will, OEDIPUS REX succeeds in explaining the coexistence, in which action is subordinate to destiny through~~ ignorance. ~{!0~}I was blind and now I can tell why: asleep for you had given ease of breath to Thebes while the false years went by."

THE OEDIPUS CYCLE beautifully fits Aristotle's definition of tragedies, being~{!0~}a casual, inevitable sequence of events connected intimately with the personality of the tragic character." Even if your English class doesn't require you to pick up this title, I highly recommend that you do. Being a translation, the language is very clear and reading~~ is direct. But the subject is still full - and full of revelation! It is so amazing, you have to experience it for yourself! I ended up reading all 3 plays of the cycle and they are all very different but I would think that OEDIPUS REX is the strongest one. It catches the reader the best, being more action-filled than the rest. OEDIPUS AT COLONUS is a more of character reflections and analyzing, which are heartfelt for both character and reader. ANTIGONE concludes the story with a good~~ feminist view of the affair by Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus. Her play is a mix of physical and mental action and reaction.~

Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald first published their excellent translation of "Antigone" in 1939. Having well stood the test of time, it is reprinted in their paperback, "The Oedipus Cycle." My reasons for liking this version better than recent translations by Don Taylor and Paul Roche appear in my Amazon review of the Taylor translation. Here I want to comment on the moral and human issues raised by the play itself, which make it superbly worth reading.

The tragedy begins with an act of civil disobedience by the king's niece, Antigone. It ends with the misery and suicide of Antigone, of Haemon (the king's son), and of Euridice (the queen), together with the utter despair of Creon (the king).

Just before her last exit, Antigone cries out: "But if the guilt Lies upon Creon who judged me, then, I pray, May his punishment equal my own." Her prayer is granted, within minutes of her own death. Declared guilty by the prophet, Teiresias, Creon is punished by the suicides of his son and his wife.

But who or what granted Antigone's prayer? Divine justice? The reader is more than ready to applaud punishment for Creon. But in this form? What have Haemon and Euridice done to deserve their fates? For that matter, what kind of justice condemns Antigone to a punishment equal to Creon's? If what she did was right, as Haemon and Teiresias insist, why punish her at all? Even if death is an unavoidable result of disobeying an unjust king, why isn't it noble and beautiful as hoped for, rather than miserable and shameful as experienced?

What went wrong?

The first move is Creon's: a decree that, under pain of death, no one may bury Polynices (his nephew and Antigone's brother), who has been killed making war against the city. The stated reason for the decree is that enemies must be treated manifestly worse than loyal citizens. But why go to this extreme? One could easily distinguish between an enemy (Polynices) and a patriot (Eteocles, his brother, killed in the same battle) by simple rites for the former and elaborate ones for the latter. Creon completely ignores the conflict between his decree and the hallowed custom of burial rites.

Antigone, aware of the law and the punishment, plans to bury her brother anyway. This action strikes her as beautiful, partly because, unafraid, she will be doing what she enthusiastically believes to be Right. But partly also because she is entranced with the notion of embracing Polynices forever in the world of death. Her sister, Ismene, thinks the plan extreme, but can only counsel submission. Neither woman considers trying first to persuade Creon to amend the decree which, if successful, would make disobedience and its consequences unnecessary. By disobeying, Antigone will challenge Creon's authority as well as his wisdom, making it harder for him to back down. Especially hard in this case, since his acquiescence would look like partiality for a family member, a sin he has pledged to avoid.

Having disobeyed the edict, Antigone is brought before Creon. She eloquently invokes the "divine, everlasting" laws that her disobedience obeyed, but falters when Creon's questioning (a la Socrates) probes her understanding of justice to enemies and patriots. The questions logically point to the solution mentioned above: burial for both, but simple for the enemy and elaborate for the patriot. But no one offers it: neither Antigone, nor Creon, nor the Chorus.

Ismene is summoned. Grief-stricken at Antigone's prospects, she pleads to share the guilt and the punishment. Turned down by Antigone, she puts to Creon a powerful argument: surely he will not execute his son's betrothed. Her love, compassion, courage, gentleness and poise are beautiful, but the formula that might have saved the day does not occur to her.

Creon's son, Haemon, now enters, desperate to rescue his betrothed. He begins by expressing full deference to his father's judgment and authority, hoping this will make it easier for Creon to consider alternatives. Haemon tells Creon that the city completely disagrees with him: it thinks that Antigone's action merits not death, but the highest honors. The confrontation shows great courage in Haemon, but also much dishonesty. That popular opinion, even if favorable, would be as unanimous, as enthusiastic, or as accessible to him as he claims, is not plausible. The opinions he reports are emphatically his own and manifestly contrary to his father's. The initial assertion of deference was a pretext. Creon is enraged. If, instead, Haemon had asked Creon to explain why he thought his edict necessary, might this have led to an assessment of its merits, and might that have opened the way to changing it?

This was the last chance to prevent catastrophe. Haemon rushes out, warning that Antigone's death will cause another. Antigone, waiting for transfer to the tomb where she will be buried alive, laments her fate, feeling now that her death will be ugly and miserable.

Teiresias enters to declare that the country's altars and hearths are all defiled by birds and dogs satiated with Polynices' unburied body. Creon takes this as balderdash that Teiresias has been bribed to concoct. Whereupon Teiresias predicts Haemon's death. Remembering that the old man's prophecies have never been mistaken, Creon finally changes course. He rushes to bury Polynices and then to free Antigone. But too late: Antigone has hanged herself; a grief-stricken Haemon lunges at his father, then kills himself. Hearing the news, the queen also commits suicide. Creon is left inexpressibly miserable and shamed. The Chorus, having offered no criticism when it might have helped, now daringly condemns the grandiose words of proud men, who lack wisdom and piety.

Creon does change course, not in time through reason, but too late and through compulsion. Given his character, would better reasoning have persuaded him? Given the other characters, was better reasoning within their repertory? Was it all inevitable? In practical life we usually assume not. Should the assumption in this play be different?

This is a distinctly poetic translation of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone. It is both readable and enjoyable. We explored several versions in my English class, and Robert Fitzgerald does an excellent job constructing memorable lines and beautiful dialogue. If you want to read Sophocles, this is a good translation to choose.

These translations of the Oedipus cycle of Sophocles definitely are very readable and clearly understandable. They quite adequately convey the greatness of the works.

The commentaries, however, are rather sparse, and a good deal of their content is taken up with Fitzgerald's defense of some of his practices in trying to deliver a rendition true to the actual meaning of the drama; without, as he says, sending a literate reader running to a library, and without clogging up the dialog.

By comparison, the David Grene-Richmond Lattimore version of Sophocles' 'Antigone', which I had just previously read, provided a good deal of supplementary material which preceded the text of the play. Therein was given a detailed account of the historical and legendary context of the play, as well as identification and explanation of many of the mythological allusions to be found in the dialog. Speaking for myself, I think this would have been a useful addition to the Fitzgerald book. Perhaps Fitzgerald thought this was unnecessary for that "literate reader" he was thinking of. To be fair, he does explain that he tries to massage the text to make those allusions more self-explanatory.

There is, however, a very interesting, though brief commentary by the translator on 'Oedipus at Colonus'. In this trenchant analysis, Fitzgerald advances his views on the ultimate vision of truth for which the aged playwright was reaching in this, his last play. But, in general, Fitzgerald seems more concerned with achieving a consistency of style and comprehensibility than with delving into the psychological aspects of the plays.

This edition will no doubt satisfy most people wishing to gain a knowledge and appreciation of these firmly established world classics.

Fitts and Fitzgerald produce dazzling, straight-to-the-heart renditions of Sophocles' masterpieces! The swiftness and momentum they create is astounding.

The only things to be aware of are a few very-minor-cuts and a sparseness in the rendering of the lines in each play. (The sparseness is typical and reminiscent of Fitzgerald's Homer. It works perfectly for Sophocles, but not at all for his Homer). The shortened aspects of the lines makes for continuous action in the drama and gives subtle joy while reading each play.

After searching long and hard for a secondary version of the Theban Plays, (I also have Meineck's and Woodruff's beautiful collaboration on Hackett as my main version) I thankfully came across this one which satisfied every wish I had about them...the most important for me of them being: readability, the capturing of poetics, the quickness & intensity and the print layout.

These guys work great together and do an incredible job with these plays! You can be sure that this edition of the Oedipus Cycle is among the Best translations available of them.

Fitts translates the original Greek of Sophocles very lyrically: especially evident in the chorus lines, strophe-antistrophe. All three plays move quickly and are understandable in plain English, good for both personal reading and performance. A great intro into classical literature.

This was a gift to me. I think it is a print on demand copy so it goes without saying it has a bunch of typos. Some are easily figured out & some are way out there.