The Suppliants (Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation) [Hardcover]

Aeschylus (Author), Peter Burian (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation | Publication Date: April 1991

An extraordinary drama of flight and rescue arising from women's resistance to marriage, The Suppliants is surprising both for its exotic color and for its forceful enactment of the primal struggle between male and female, lust and terror, brutality and cunning. In his translation of this ancient Greek drama, Peter Burian introduces a new generation of readers to a powerful work of Aeschylus' later years. He conveys the strength and daring of Aeschylus' language in the idiom of our own time, while respecting what is essentially classical in this dramatist's art: the rigor of the formal constraint with which he compresses high emotion to the bursting point. The Suppliants, which is the first and only surviving part of a trilogy, does not conform to our expectations of Greek drama in that it has neither hero, nor downfall, nor tragic conclusion. Instead the play portrays unresolved conflicts of sexuality, love, and emotional maturity. These distinctly modern themes come alive in a translation that re-creates the psychological immediacy as well as the dramatic tension of this ancient work.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Greek

Product Details

• Hardcover: 88 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (April 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691068674
• ISBN-13: 978-0691068671
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,795,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sisters fleeing cousins., June 12, 1999

By 

R. D. Allison ([e-mail]) (Gainesville, Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Suppliants (Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation) (Hardcover)

This is the first play of a trilogy by Aeschylus (c. 525-456 B. C.), the other two being lost (Aeschylus wrote over seventy plays of which only seven are extant). It begins the story of the daughters of Danaus. The brothers Aegyptus and Danaus were descendents of Io. Aegyptus had fifty sons and Danaus had fifty daughters and the sons are determined to marry their cousins. The daughters flee to Argos, seeking sanctuary from Pelasgus, King of Argos. The play, which contains very little action, is really serving as a prologue to the other two missing members of the trilogy.