The Three Theban Plays: Antigone / Oedipus the King / Oedipus at Colonus

By Sophocles

Book Overview

"These authoritative translations consign all other complete collections to the wastebasket."--Robert Brustein, The New Republic

"This is it. No qualifications. Go out and buy it everybody."--Kenneth Rexroth, The Nation

"The translations deliberately avoid the highly wrought and affectedly poetic; their idiom is contemporary....They have life and speed and suppleness of phrase."--Times Education Supplement

"These translations belong to our time. A keen poetic sensibility repeatedly quickens them; and without this inner fire the most academically flawless rendering is dead."--Warren D. Anderson, American Oxonian

"The critical commentaries and the versions themselves...are fresh, unpretentious, above all, functional."--Commonweal

"Grene is one of the great translators."--Conor Cruise O'Brien, London Sunday Times

"Richmond Lattimore is that rara avis in our age, the classical scholar who is at the same time an accomplished poet."--Dudley Fitts, New York Times Book Review

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226307921
• ISBN13: 9780226307923
• Release Date: August 1991
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 218 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Sophocles I

Contains the three tragedies: Oedipus the King Oedipus at Colonus Antigone

of course it's predictable

The previous reviewers who denigrate Oedipus as "predictable" only reveal their own ignorance. Any member of an Ancient Greek audience already knew the story of Oedipus, it'd be like complaining that upon going to Easter Mass, you found the story of the Crucifixion to be predictable; the point was never to have a twist, but to create a relationship between the characters and members of the audience, placing the viewers in direct relation to the mystery of life. The language is gorgeous besides.

Very Readable

Fitts translates the original Greek of Sophocles very lyrically: especially evident in the chorus lines, strophe-antistrophe. All three plays move quickly and are understandable in plain English, good for both personal reading and performance. A great intro into classical literature.

An awesome translation

This is a distinctly poetic translation of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone. It is both readable and enjoyable. We explored several versions in my English class, and Robert Fitzgerald does an excellent job constructing memorable lines and beautiful dialogue. If you want to read Sophocles, this is a good translation to choose.

Wonders are many...

"Antigone" is one of the 5 greatest plays in Western literature, and from this beautiful translation, it is easy to see why. The language absolutely captures each dramatic moment, from the first confrontation between Antigone and Creon, to the warnings of Ismene, to the callous indifference of the guards, to the immortal Hymn to Man chorus. Additionally, Knox's introduction is superb. If anyone has any doubt what is meant by "the glory that was Greece," read this wonderful volume from cover to cover--twice.