ggillespie's review against another edition
favorite line: "not just a drop of cunt sweat"
gaea's review
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This rating includes the translation as well as the plays by Euripides himself.
The translation was done by Anne Carson and makes these plays easy to read and understand. She chose to include four plays (Herakles, Hekabe, Hippolytos and Alkestis) which she prefaced with her own notes to allow the reader to understand the context of the given plays. The prefaces have proven to be quite useful to help understand the genre and tradition. I would advise others to re-read the preface after having finished each play, because it helped me to reflect on every single play more in-depth.
The plays were quite intriguing and different from other greek plays I have read so far. The atmosphere seems a lot more dark and bleak, leaving the characters and the readers without a speck of hope about the ending of some of the characters. But Euripides also gives us a different portrayal on topics like war, sacrifice and loss, taking the glamour and heroicness out of it.
The translation was done by Anne Carson and makes these plays easy to read and understand. She chose to include four plays (Herakles, Hekabe, Hippolytos and Alkestis) which she prefaced with her own notes to allow the reader to understand the context of the given plays. The prefaces have proven to be quite useful to help understand the genre and tradition. I would advise others to re-read the preface after having finished each play, because it helped me to reflect on every single play more in-depth.
The plays were quite intriguing and different from other greek plays I have read so far. The atmosphere seems a lot more dark and bleak, leaving the characters and the readers without a speck of hope about the ending of some of the characters. But Euripides also gives us a different portrayal on topics like war, sacrifice and loss, taking the glamour and heroicness out of it.
19sk84's review against another edition
i dont actually own this book and only had access to one of the plays in it lol but i finished that one
poetpenelopee's review
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
What can I say? I love a good tragedy. And Anne Carson’s translations are always great!
sapphicpenguin's review
5.0
Stunning. Freakishly beautiful. Full of the shadows of violence and desire, surrounded by grief and rage. Anne Carson and Euripides entwined, like all the best writer-translator pairs. Carson's two included essays and her prefaces for each play are masterpieces in themselves.
You may be familiar with the first words of the preface: "Why does tragedy exist? Because you are full of rage. Why are you full of rage? Because you are full of grief." If you held your breath for that sentence, you'll hold your breath for the whole book.
No prior classics knowledge required, just the ability to navigate a basic script and perhaps the Googling of a couple myths to set the scene.
You may be familiar with the first words of the preface: "Why does tragedy exist? Because you are full of rage. Why are you full of rage? Because you are full of grief." If you held your breath for that sentence, you'll hold your breath for the whole book.
No prior classics knowledge required, just the ability to navigate a basic script and perhaps the Googling of a couple myths to set the scene.
emicordelia's review
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
casparb's review
4.0
Exquisite!4.5. Lots of love for this - Carson takes plays that are quite possibly fairly tepid and extracts an extraordinary dynamism and an excruciating yet ætherial reverberation that somehow manages to read, beautifully.
All four plays are magnificently adapted though I play favourites for Hippolytos and Alkestis. The language of Hippolytos in particular delights me -
//I long for the secret sunwalked places,
and a god to take me up high...
-and predictably I love the way the sea comes about here and the mute heroico-tragical quality of Poseidon:
Then swelling and spattering foam and sea on every side
it went towards shore where the chariot was.
At the height of the surge
it put forth a bull - wild weird thing!
And the whole place was filled with voice-
Shivers in the voice. Wonderful and intriguingly familiar. It was nice to dip into Foucault's History of Sexuality (2) for that play as well. Fruitful! Dissemination! Polyvalence!
So Anne here has done me well thank you Anne thank you Kate (especially the annotations!!). I'm keen for AC's Antigone and beyond.
All four plays are magnificently adapted though I play favourites for Hippolytos and Alkestis. The language of Hippolytos in particular delights me -
//I long for the secret sunwalked places,
and a god to take me up high...
-and predictably I love the way the sea comes about here and the mute heroico-tragical quality of Poseidon:
Then swelling and spattering foam and sea on every side
it went towards shore where the chariot was.
At the height of the surge
it put forth a bull - wild weird thing!
And the whole place was filled with voice-
Shivers in the voice. Wonderful and intriguingly familiar. It was nice to dip into Foucault's History of Sexuality (2) for that play as well. Fruitful! Dissemination! Polyvalence!
So Anne here has done me well thank you Anne thank you Kate (especially the annotations!!). I'm keen for AC's Antigone and beyond.
bleepbloop's review against another edition
funny
sad
3.75
I like Anne Carson more than I like euripides