Electra

by E. A. Sophocles, Nicholas Rudall (Editor)

Overview

Sophocles’ classic drama of a daughter’s revenge of her father’s murder has been translated into playable language for modern audiences. As an example of Sophoclean tragedy, with its fatalistic acceptance of human doom, Electra is unsurpassed. It is, in addition, a potent metaphor for the current disintegration of some European nations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781566630221
Publisher:	Dee, Ivan R. Publisher
Publication date:	06/01/1993
Series:	Plays for Performance Series
Pages:	76
Sales rank:	1,130,914
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	1000L (what's this?)

About the Author

The Plays for Performance series is edited by Nicholas Rudall, former artistic director of the Court Theatre at the University of Chicago where he is professor of classics, and Bernard Sahlins, founder and director of the Second City. They both live in Chicago, Illinois.

Editorial Reviews

Every era needs the classics on its own terms, so Sophocles' Electra, translated by Anne Carson (The Beauty of the Husband; Forecasts, Dec. 18, 2000), should prove very popular among newcomers and seasoned readers of the sublime dramatist's brutal drama, as well as among Carson's many fans. While Carson renders the book in her signature free verse, her major innovation is the phonetic preservation of Electra's "far from formulaic" screams: "OIMOI," "O TALAINA" and "PHEU PHEU" among them. As Carson writes in her excellent translator's preface, they are not stock ejaculations like "Alas!" or "Woe is me!," but "bones of sound" emitted by the daughter who finds herself cheering her mother's execution. Though Oxford's stock existentialist cover looks like something from the height of '50s abstract angst and the book's paper is pulpy, expect strong sales. ( Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A marvel of compression and spare, evocative English.

Chicago Tribune

A marvel of compression and spare, evocative English.

Chicago Tribune