The Complete Euripides
SynopsisPlot
This volume collects Euipides' Alcestis (translated by William Arrowsmith), a subtle drama about Alcestis and her husband Admetos, which is the oldest surviving work by the dramatist; Medea (Michael Collier and Georgia Machemer), a moving vengeance story and an excellent example of the prominence and complexity that Euripides gave to female characters; Helen (Peter Burian), a genre breaking play based on the myth of Helen in Egypt; and Cyclops (Heather McHugh and David Konstan), a highly lyrical drama based on a celebrated episode from the Odyssey. This volume retains the informative introductions and explanatory notes of the original editions and adds a single combined glossary and Greek line numbers.
Story
About this book
The Complete Euripides gathers four plays by the Athenian dramatist into one volume, each rendered into English by a different team of translators. Alcestis, translated by William Arrowsmith, is the earliest surviving work by Euripides and turns on a wife who agrees to die in place of her husband Admetos. Medea, translated by Michael Collier and Georgia Machemer, follows a woman answering betrayal by her husband Jason.
Helen, in Peter Burian's version, uses an alternative telling of the myth in which Helen never reached Troy and waits instead in Egypt, a premise that crosses the usual line between tragedy and comedy. Cyclops, translated by Heather McHugh and David Konstan, reworks a famous episode from the Odyssey as a satyr play, the only complete example of that form to survive.
The translations belong to the Greek Tragedy in New Translations series, which reaches past literal meaning in order to suggest the poetry of the Greek. Each play keeps the introduction and explanatory notes from its earlier single-play edition, while this volume adds one combined glossary and Greek line numbers, allowing passages to be matched against the original text.
