Helen / Edition 1

by Euripides, James Michie, Colin Leach

Overview

Transcending the literal bounds of genre, Euripides' Helen has been characterized as both a comedy and a tragedy. In this evocative translation by James Michie and Colin Leach, Euripides' delicate balance—in all its subtlety of texture and tone—is beautifully captured. The reader encounters myriad reversals, worlds—real/ideal, tragic/comic—surprisingly juxtaposed and, as in any story of Helen, the pathos of the impossible, all allowing Euripides to comment of the futility of war and the difficult distinction between appearance and reality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195077100
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/29/1992
Series:	Greek Tragedy in New Translations
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.58(w) x 8.52(h) x 0.36(d)

About the Author

About the Translators:
James Michie is translator of The Odes of Horace and The Centennial Hymn. Colin Leach is a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford University.

Table of Contents

Preface     ix
List of sigla and abbreviations     xi
Key to metrical symbols     xiii
Introduction     1
Euripides and Athens     1
Life and works     1
Helen in its Athenian context     4
The figure of Helen in early Greek culture     10
Myth     10
Cult     14
Helen on stage     16
The 'new' Helen     18
Stesichorus     18
Herodotus     22
Euripides     24
The production     29
Setting and staging     29
Structure and dramatic technique     34
Speech, song, language     38
A tragedy of ideas     46
Knowledge and reality     47
Family, gender, authority     49
Greeks and Egyptians     55
The Gods     61
Genre     66
Helen transformed     72
The text and its transmission     82
Helen     91
Commentary     142
Bibliography     347
Indexes     365

Editorial Reviews

"The translation is clear and conveys well the sense of the original Greek. I much prefer it to the others that are currently available. The introduction gives a good demonstration of the problems of interpretation critics of the play encounter. The notes are very clear and should be helpful to the Greekless reader."—Patricia P. Matsen, University of South Carolina

"One can savour these beautiful individual editions."—John Dillon, Hermathena-Trinity College/Dublin

"Skillfully represented."—Bernard Bredley, Kings College, London

"Well edited, priced right."—Edna L. Steeves, University of Rhode Island

From the Publisher