Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus The Tyrant, Oedipus at Colonus (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature) (Wordsworth Classics) [Paperback]

Sophocles (Author), Jamey Hecht (Translator, Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2005

The story of Oedipus has captured the human imagination as few others. It is the story of a man fated to kill his father and marry his mother, a man who by a cruel irony brings these things to pass by his very efforts to avoid them. But these plays are not about fate, and not about irony. They are about character, choice and consequence. In Antigone we see a woman who will defy human law, and die for it, rather than transgress the eternal, unwritten laws of the gods. Oedipus the Tyrant is the story of a ruler destroyed by those qualities - pride, determination and belief in his own abilities - which made him ruler in the first place. Finally, in Oedipus at Colonus, written late in Sophocles' life, the aged and blinded king achieves a personal reconciliation, but at a cost - a son who will die in battle against his country, and a daughter who will die burying her brother.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd; 1 edition (March 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1840221445
• ISBN-13: 978-1840221442
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #530,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A teacher's POV, January 7, 2011

By 

graypast7 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus The Tyrant, Oedipus at Colonus (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature) (Wordsworth Classics) (Paperback)

I have taught history in both high school and college. In almost all Western Civ. and European history classes, Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the Tyrant, in this edition) is a required text. Students are often alienated by the stilted language and archaic vocabulary of many translations, but Jamey Hecht's translation is fluent, modern without being too "contemporary," and very accessible. I have found it to be the best recent translation of all three of these plays.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good translation; works for me!, January 6, 2011

By 

Dana L. DeRuyck - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus The Tyrant, Oedipus at Colonus (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature) (Wordsworth Classics) (Paperback)

I'm no Greek lit scholar; I'm just an actor currently performing a production of Jamey Hecht's translation of Oedipus. I've found it thoroughly competent and easy to read without ever coming off dry and flat. If you're looking to pick up a copy, I can definitely recommend this one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I liked this translation, January 5, 2011

By 

Jacques Freydont (Los Angeles, Ca.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus The Tyrant, Oedipus at Colonus (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature) (Wordsworth Classics) (Paperback)

I haven't read these plays since college, over forty years ago. I remember loving the stories and finding the translations prosaic and lacking spark. This highly poetic translation would have satisfied me. Like Pound, Bly and Merrwin, this author brings his own highly honed poetic skills to the table. I for one love what I think bares a closer resemblance to the original sensation of reading these elegant works, if not the faithfully literal and prosaic stuff I read in school. I hope this translator will bring out even more Greek plays in his highly entertaining, finely wrought poetry. I'd love to see a theatrical production of these plays in this translation.