Ten Plays (Signet Classics) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Paul Roche (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Greek playwright Euripedes was misunderstood in his own time, but the topics he chose to write about--women's role in society, war, religion, and the human condition--are still relevant today. Included here: "Alcestis", "Hippolytus", "Ion", "Electra", "Iphigenia at Aulis", "Iphigenia Among the Taurians", "Medea", "The Bachhae", "The Trojan Woman", and "The Cyclops".

Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Signet Classics (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451527003
• ISBN-13: 978-0451527004
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #318,432 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent translations. The best Medea I've ever read., July 17, 2001

By	[e-mail] (Seattle, Washington USA) - See all my reviews

I am a theatre director and playwright. I read every translation of Medea I could find. This 1998 translation by Roche, after twenty years of ripening, is fresh, clear, and strong. He prioritized retaining the ( ( ( s o u n d ) ) ) of the ancient greek, and his poet's ear captured its slippery almost-iambic trimeter perfectly. A powerful, haunting, contemporary translation. "Deep is her sobbing from depths of pain/ Shrill is the answer her suffering gives/ To the news of a woman betrayed/ A love gone wrong..." A mature poet's text, translated by an equally sensitive poet. It doesn't get any better than this.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vigorous Euripides Top 10 - For Acting For Reading, January 22, 2000

By	bipolar2 - See all my reviews

First the 10 Plays -- Alcestis / Hippolytus / Ion / Electra / Iphigenia at Aulis / Iphigenia among the Taurians / Medea / The Bacchae / The Trojan Women / The Cyclops -- together with a pronouncing Glossary of names and places. Tops out at about 575 pages.

Placing the only extant ancient Greek satyr play, Cyclops, at the end, Roche supplies needed comic relief. Odysseus and his crew fall in among a band of randy, wine-craving satyrs who toil away for the famed one-eyed Polyphemus.

Roche's introductory material is short, clear and useful, especially well thought out is his method of translating Greek meters into English verse. Each play has a brief introduction as well.

The translations are vigorous, modern, and to this reader both lyrical and moving. Roche's poetical gifts are obvious and put to effective use.

Let Paul Roche be ivy-crowned, son of Semele, son of Zeus!

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Too much Roche - not enough Euripides, November 7, 2002

By	Kelli M. Mcbride - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Roche's translations of Euripides' tragedies are intrusive. He adds stage directions and characterizations that influence how the reader views the people in the plays. Readers may believe that these stage directions are from Euripides, but most of them are not. I find it irksome having to differentiate between Roche's interpretation of character and Euripides' text.