Orestes (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780195096590)

Based on the conviction that only translators who write poetry themselves can properly recreate the celebrated and timeless tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, The Greek Tragedy in New Translations series offers new translations that go beyond the literal meaning of the Greek in order to evoke the poetry of the originals. Under the editorship of Herbert Golder and the late William Arrowsmith, each volume includes a critical introduction, commentary on the text, full stage directions, and a glossary of the mythical and geographical references in the plays.
Produced more frequently on the ancient stage than any other tragedy, Orestes retells with striking innovations the story of the young man who kills his mother to avenge her murder of his father. Though eventually exonerated, Orestes becomes a fugitive from the Furies (avenging spirits) of his mother's blood. On the brink of destruction, he is saved in the end by Apollo, who had commanded the matricide. Powerful and gripping, Orestes sweeps us along with a momentum that starting slowly, builds inevitably to one of the most spectacular climaxes in all Greek tragedy.

Author: Euripides, John Peck, Frank Nisetich
ISBN-10: 0195096592
ISBN-13: 9780195096590
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 06/08/1995
Pages: 128
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.38lbs
Size: 8.46h x 5.72w x 0.30d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 08/01/1995 pg. 74