Oresteia

by Aeschylus, Christopher Collard

Overview

In the Oresteia -- the only trilogy in Greek drama that survives from antiquity -- Aeschylus took as his subject the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos. As they move from darkness to light, from rage to self-governance, from primitive ritual to civilized institution, their spirit of struggle and regeneration becomes an everlasting song of celebration.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199537815
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/15/2009
Series:	Oxford World's Classics Series
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	179,246
Product dimensions:	7.72(w) x 5.12(h) x 0.76(d)
Lexile:	1380L (what's this?)
Age Range:	15 Years

About the Author

Aeschylus (525-456 BC) was the father of Greek tragic drama, usually considered the first great writer in the Western theatrical tradition.

Rory Mullarkey won the 2014 George Devine Award for his play The Wolf from the Door and was the recipient of the Pinter Commission in 2014 – an award given annually by Lady Antonia Fraser, Harold Pinter's widow, to support a new commission at the Royal Court. He was the Royal Court's writer-on-attachment in 2010 and has been closely associated with the theatre's international work, translating Russian-language plays from Latvia, Russia and Ukraine, including Aleksey Scherbak's Remembrance Day as part of the 2011 International Season and for a number of staged readings. His first full-length play, Cannibals, opened at the Royal Exchange Manchester in 2013, where he became the youngest playwright to have his work performed on their main stage. In 2014, Rory Mullarkey won the Harold Pinter Playwriting Prize, the George Devine Award (jointly with Alice Birch) and the James Tait Black Prize for Drama for his play Cannibals, published by Methuen Drama.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	7
	Acknowledgements	11
	A Reading of 'The Oresteia': The Serpent and the Eagle	13
	Agamemnon	99
	The Libation Bearers	173
	The Eumenides	227
	The Genealogy of Orestes	279
	Select Bibliography	281
	Notes	285
	Agamemnon	285
	The Libation Bearers	305
	The Eumenides	317
	Glossary	331

Editorial Reviews

These two new additions to Oxford's "Greek Tragedy in New Translations" series only add to the luster of the previous releases. Each is firmly packed with insightful introductions, comprehensive and numbered notes, glossaries, and up-to-date bibliographies (the plays' texts take up about half of each volume). The collaboration of poet and scholar in each volume produces a language that is easy to read and easy to speak (compare, for instance, the Watchman's first lines in Shapiro and Burian's Agamemnon with those in Lattimore's 1947 translation). Each volume's introduction presents the play's action and themes with some detail. The translators' notes describe the linguistic twists and turns involved in rendering the text into a modern poetic language. Both volumes are enthusiastically recommended for academic libraries, theater groups, and theater departments.-Larry Schwartz, Minnesota State Univ., Moorhead Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Translators Grene and O'Flaherty present a modern translation of the three plays composing the Oresteia and, with the assistance of director Nicholas Rudall, an abridged stage adaptation which transforms the Oresteia into an effective modern stage play. Includes introductory material. Cloth edition ($32.50). Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Though it's tempting to imagine the late English poet laureate's long tortured relationship with the image of (his wife) feminist heroine Sylvia Plath as its subtext, this vivid free-verse translation of Aeschylus' dark and bloody tragic trilogy (comprising Agamemnon, Choephori, and Eumenides) more properly evinces Hughes's wide range of interests and mastery of classic literatures. His nearly conversational rhythms produce an arresting mixture of colloquialism and formality, enlivened by strong imagery (as in the matricidal Orestes' declaration that "This house has been the goblet / That the demon of homicide, unquenchable, / Has loved to drain"), and only infrequently weakened by astonishing woodenness—as in Clytemnestra's cool reply to the Chorus who lament her murder of her husband: "You think I'm an irresponsible woman? / You are making a mistake"). Perhaps not the ultimate "acting edition" it claims to be, but, still, an essential further installment in the always interesting oeuvre of a gifted poet who was also a diligent scholar.

Kirkus Reviews

Rory Mullarkey's adaptation of these three Aeschylus plays . . . is undertaken with a spirit it would be hard to trump. . . . Mullarkey has adapted Aeschylus in a way that never fudges, conceals or distances.” —Observer

“Witty, brash and steeped in blood . . . this is a big and boisterous account packed with sly wit and the sort of brash lines that wouldn't be out of place in a gangster film.” —Evening Standard

“brilliantly evokes the sheer strangeness and horror of the play. Rory Mullarkey's translation follows the Aeschylean original faithfully and his lyrics make some attempts to evoke the percussive muscularity of the choruses. . . . I haven't seen anything quite as sickening or as stately as this version of these plays.” —Spectator

“The verse rhythms are fluid and flexible, allowing for passages of lyric song, and the language is pithy and vivid . . . shows how "justice" - the word that resounds through Mullarkey's text like a drumbeat - easily transmutes into blood-soaked revenge.” —Guardian

“Rory Mullarkey's new translation can't be accused of lacking scholastic commitment, or ear-enticing poetic carry-on. . . . the phrasing is pungent” —Daily Telegraph

“Mullarkey's vibrant translation slithers from the poetic to the colloquial” —Financial Times

“Rory Mullarkey's poetical, darkly funny but never murky adaptation proves stimulating and surprising . . . makes you laugh one moment and shudder the next.” —The Times

From the Publisher

The greatest achievement of the human mind.”

Algernon Charles Swinburne

The Oresteia is not merely a magnificent work, it is one of the supreme achievements of classical culture…the Oresteia is splendid, and as a depiction of the cumulative power of evil it is unsurpassed.”

Masterpieces of World Literature

The Oresteia is perhaps the most unusual tragedy in the theater of the West and certainly one of the very greatest.”

University of Chicago scholar and noted translator David Grene

Although these Greek plays are twenty-five centuries old, this production is, remarkably, the first audio release to include the complete trilogy…It features a fine performance by Robertson Dean.”

AudioFile

In their day, these poetic, highly stylized tragedies were chanted rather than acted…Thus they work particularly well in audio format. This production makes the most of modern technology to create haunting choral effects. The individual actors are all well-cast, and their performances are evenly balanced.”

Kliatt

brilliantly evokes the sheer strangeness and horror of the play. Rory Mullarkey's translation follows the Aeschylean original faithfully and his lyrics make some attempts to evoke the percussive muscularity of the choruses. . . . I haven't seen anything quite as sickening or as stately as this version of these plays.

Spectator

Witty, brash and steeped in blood . . . this is a big and boisterous account packed with sly wit and the sort of brash lines that wouldn't be out of place in a gangster film.

Evening Standard

Rory Mullarkey's adaptation of these three Aeschylus plays . . . is undertaken with a spirit it would be hard to trump. . . . Mullarkey has adapted Aeschylus in a way that never fudges, conceals or distances.

Observer

Although these Greek plays are 25 centuries old, this production is, remarkably, the first audio release to include the complete trilogy. The strongest play is the final one, THE EUMENIDES, during which Orestes is tried before Athena for the murder of his mother, Clytemnestra. It features a fine performance by Robertson Dean as Apollo, Orestes's advocate. After listening to the trilogy, it's easy to appreciate the challenges of adapting Greek dramatic conventions to audio. For example, lengthy passages are delivered by a chorus, which may seem contrived to modern listeners. Unfortunately, this production magnifies that awkwardness—far too many lines are delivered with injudicious sound effects and multiple voices that are more cloying than dramatic. D.B. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

AUG/SEP 07 - AudioFile