The Wasps, The Poet and the Women & The Frogs (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Aristophanes (Author), David Barrett (Translator, Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 1964

The master of ancient Greek comic drama, Aristophanes combined slapstick, humour and cheerful vulgarity with acute political observations. In "The Frogs", written during the Peloponnesian War, Dionysus descends to the Underworld to bring back a poet who can help Athens in its darkest hour, and stages a great debate to help him decide between the traditional wisdom of Aeschylus and the brilliant modernity of Euripides. The clash of generations and values is also the object of Aristophanes' satire in "The Wasps", in which an old-fashioned father and his loose-living son come to blows and end up in court. And in "The Poet and the Women", Euripides, accused of misogyny persuades a relative to infiltrate an all-women festival to find out whether revenge is being plotted against him. In his introduction, David Barrett discusses the Athenian dramatic contests in which these plays first appeared, and conventions of Greek comedy - from its poetic language and the role of the Chorus to casting and costumes.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Aristophanes was born, probably in Athens, c. 449 BC and died between 386 and 380 BC. Little is known about his life, but there is a portrait of him in Plato's Symposium. He was twice threatened with prosecution in the 420s for his outspoken attacks on the prominent politician Cleon, but in 405 he was publicly honored and crowned for promoting Athenian civic unity in The Frogs. Aristophanes had his first comedy produced when he was about twenty-one, and wrote forty plays in all. The eleven surviving plays of Aristophanes are published in the Penguin Classics series as The Birds and Other Plays, Lysistrata and Other Plays, and The Wasps/The Poet and the Women/The Frogs. Translated by David Barrett Revised Translation with an Introduction and Notes by Shomit Dutta --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics; 1ST edition (February 28, 1964)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140441522
• ISBN-13: 978-0140441529
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #417,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #52 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Nonfiction > More Languages > Greek

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious collection of plays, December 25, 2007

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Jordan M. Poss (Georgia, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frogs and Other Plays (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

Comedy is notoriously difficult to translate--not only do some cultures have entirely different senses of humor, the word-play and deft cultural allusions that make good comedy are often untranslatable. Against these odds, translator David Barrett has successfully brought Aristophanes into modern English with all his wit, sarcasm, and sly digs at well-known Greeks.

The plays collected here--Frogs, Wasps, and Women at the Thesmophoria--are rendered so well that I was laughing all the way through. The translations are remarkably true to the originals and well foot-noted where the translator has diverged from the text, usually to make a joke an English-speaking reader would understand.

Frogs and Other Plays is a fast, easy, and very funny read, well worth the time for anyone interested in ancient Greece, drama, or good old-fashioned comedy.

Recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of Penguin Classics Aristophanes' Frogs, et al., July 1, 2009

By 

Ryan S. Mease "scott.godwin" (Chicago, IL, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Frogs and Other Plays (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

First of all, I was suprised to find tbat the introduction to this Aristophanes collection was more lucid and readable than that before the "Birds" Collection, which is really meant to be the original volume.

The editor, Shomit Dutta, did an excellent job of modernizing the Barrett translation and adding extensive end notes. Although, as usual, I find footnotes far more helpful, the work as a whole was so wonderful that I had to give it five stars.

As with the first volume, this Penguin Classics collections presents plays which are easy to read and genuinely funny, especially for one who has just recently read Greek drama.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Version of 3 Immortal Comedies, March 5, 2010

By 

Bill R. Moore (New York, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wasps, the Poet and the Women the Frogs (Paperback)

As the only ancient Greek comedian whose work has survived, Aristophanes' importance is impossible to exaggerate. He has not only immensely influenced comedy - and drama and literature generally - but is also practically the only source giving any idea what Greek comedy was like, making his work of immense historical value. Of course, as with all comedy that is truly universal, one need not know or even think about any of this. He is more than entertaining in his own right - indeed, still screamingly funny. Reading him, we get a profound sense of just how little comedy has changed. It is not just that what was funny nearly 2,500 years ago is still funny; techniques are basically unchanged, subject matter only being ephemeral. Aristophanes was above all a satirist, which inevitably means that many of the things he mocked and parodied are no longer intelligible without notes. We can still appreciate these with help, but what truly makes him worth reading is that the spirit of the satire - what really matters in contrast to passing fodder - continues to shine through distinctly. Human folly has changed little - has probably only increased if anything. His general observations are thus still funny - and, to those who look below the surface, still damning. Perhaps more immediately, it is striking to see that humor many think of as distinctly modern - religious blasphemy, bathroom humor, sexual humor - was as common and at least as good this long ago. Aristophanes also delights in more "serious" humor like puns and other wordplay; simply put, whether one prefers high- or low-brow, he has something for all. Humor aside, his sheer creativity still impresses; his plots and characters show near-boundless imagination and would be a significant accomplishment in even the most ostensibly serious artist. All this makes him almost unbelievably accessible - in translation of course; his tragedian contemporaries take a certain mindset and considerable dedication to appreciate, all but excluding casual readers. However, anyone can read Aristophanes with enjoyment, which is not the least of his virtues.

This collection includes three of his plays; one is his masterpiece (The Frogs), and the other two (The Wasps, The Poet and The Women) are more than worthy. The Wasps satirizes the Athenian legal system, particularly jurors, and many of its jeers are sadly still relevant.

The Poet tackles gender identity issues that, if anything, are more pertinent than ever. The question of what makes femininity and masculinity is variously dramatized, provoking much thought even with the comic handling. The play gives great insight into Greek culture, particularly how men and women were viewed. Current society likes to think of the Greeks as barbaric in these matters, yet it is astonishing to realize that we have not answered these questions; it is easy to dismiss the treatment as silly, but we can likely learn more from it than we are willing to admit. All this makes it sound serious, but it may even be Aristophanes' funniest work. The humor is more than usually slapstick, and sexual jokes abound; a phallus prop even figures prominently, which is probably all that need be said. The highfalutin may scoff, but The Poet probably has the most universal humor in any of his plays, rivaled only by Lysistrata as most likely to delight a current audience.

The Frogs is by far the best play here, and the book is worth reading for it alone. Aristophanes satirized tragedians frequently, but this is notable in focusing almost entirely on them; indeed, Aeschylus and Euripides are characters. It ostensibly does little more than roast the latter in the former's favor and would be entertaining enough if it did nothing else; whether or not we agree, it is hard to deny some of the mocking points - and impossible not to laugh. However, there is far more to the play; it essentially delineates the two main ways that Athenians looked at the world as epitomized by these dramatists. The pros and cons of both are shown, but Aristophanes clearly favors the Aeschylean mode, poking relentless fun at the Euripidean. This had great sociopolitical significance for many reasons - not least because of looming war - but was also broadly philosophical, which is why it is still very much pertinent. But again, one need not worry that humor is lacking; the play is downright hilarious and has Aristophanes' funniest and most memorable songs. It is quite simply one of the best comedies ever.

Anyone even remotely interested in comedy, drama, ancient Greece, and indeed literature itself must read Aristophanes; the real question is what translation. Though nearly fifty years old, this David Barrett one stands up remarkably well. Thoroughly readable, it flows masterfully and does a great job of conveying both humor and meaning. Anyone can jump right into it with full enjoyment, which is the main requirement with Aristophanes. Some may be troubled by his not being a purist; he prose dialogue, stage directions, and a character list. Those who want a purely verse translation can seek out Rogers' classic version, but only the truly dedicated will benefit. Verse translations of Greek dramas take Herculean skill, and Aristophanes is in many ways trickier than the tragedians. It seems obvious that, since the Greek is fully in verse, a verse translation would be ideal, but this is arguably fallacious. Ancient Greek is not only a very different language from current English; the poetry is also very different. Forcing dialogue into verse thus not only ends up being less literally accurate without conveying much of the poetry's real feel but, perhaps more importantly, also significantly undercuts comedy. However, putting the songs in verse is essential, and Barrett does an excellent job; his songs are sharp, memorable, and funny - worthy light verse in themselves. His edition is also notable in having extensive supplemental material: a long Introduction giving superb background on Aristophanes, the plays, Greek comedy, and Greek drama generally; several pages of introduction for each play giving a short summary, additional background, and some critical perspective; and extensive endnotes. Anyone who has not read these plays - or is yet to read them all - would thus do well to get this volume.