As neither of the translators are Classical scholars (they have academic expertise in other fields) I was keen to see what they made of the play.
The translators had the dual challenge of producing a fluent English version of the words while trying to put the cultural references in a context that wouldn't jarr too much with modern readers. They've done a good job. I very much like that they have tried to keep to the 'Greekness' of the original, for example by avoiding using the 'standard' Latin versions of the names (except, ironically, for the play's author!). Their aim was to provide a translation in modern English which was true to the original language as it was written. This is actually a very hard task, because many of the actions and themes which would have been instantly familiar to Sophocles' audience, and would have seemed natural and in keeping, are not part of modern Western culture, so the words themselves seem stilted. For example, at the beginning when the people come to Oidipous to ask for his help, bearing flowered branches, the language sounds clumsy at least in part because it's something we would never do now. Where there are fewer cultural-specific references in the text, the translation can be wonderfully fluent: the dialogue between Teiresias and Oidipous later on is excellent.
The introduction gives a thorough explanation of why they've made some of the translation choices plus an analysis of some of the play's main themes, including a discussion of whether Apollo was actually responsible for what happened and what that says about the role of the gods in Greek culture. Overall this book is a very accessible reminder of just what a gifted playwright Sophocles was.
One bugbear with the typesetting - in the introduction there are passages cited in the original Greek, but some letters have been replaced by open boxes, making it harder to read the words if you're not especially familiar with the language. This should have been picked up before the book was printed and it's a shame it wasn't.
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