About this title: Extravagant power of invention and remarkable comic vitality make Aristophanes one of the most brilliant of the ancient Greek playwrights. From the hilariously bawdy yet fundamentally serious play Lysistrata, to the creative fantasy of the Birds, to his comic masterpiece the Frogs, Aristophanes displays the biting satire, exquisite lyricism, and ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books, New York
Date Published: 1962
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. unmarked but pages are slightly tanned. 501 p.; 18 cm. Bantam classic; NC148.. Introduction--Acharnians--Knights--Clouds--Wasps--Peace--Birds--Lysistrata--Thesmophoriazusae--Frogs--Ecclesiazusae--Plutus. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books, New York
Date Published: 1962
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. 501 p.; 18 cm. Bantam classic; NC148.. Introduction--Acharnians--Knights--Clouds--Wasps--Peace--Birds--Lysistrata--Thesmophoriazusae--Frogs--Ecclesiazusae--Plutus. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books, New York
Date Published: 1962
Description: Fair in very good dust jacket. 501 p.; 18 cm. Bantam classic; NC148.. Introduction--Acharnians--Knights--Clouds--Wasps--Peace--Birds--Lysistrata--Thesmophoriazusae--Frogs--Ecclesiazusae--Plutus. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books, New York
Date Published: 1988
ISBN-13:9780553213430ISBN:0553213431
Description: Poor. No dust jacket as issued. Highlighting/underlining. Some heavy notes and highlighting in one section. Back cover has crease. Book shows slight use otherwise. 501 p. Edited with an introduction by Moses Hadas. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books, New York
Date Published: 1968
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. 501 p.; 18 cm. Bantam classic; NC148.. Introduction--Acharnians--Knights--Clouds--Wasps--Peace--Birds--Lysistrata--Thesmophoriazusae--Frogs--Ecclesiazusae--Plutus. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Date Published: 1984
ISBN-13:9780553213430ISBN:0553213431
Description: Good. Minor shelf wear with minor scuffing to cover, corners and edges. GoodwillnyBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. You may return new items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. read more
Edition: Later Printing
Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: Bantam Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1988
ISBN-13:9780553213430ISBN:0553213431
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
"Also read this for my ancient Greek history class, and it's surprising what bawdy humor there was for such an old playwright. Puts Shakespeare to shame in terms of the sexual innuendo. I actually laughed out loud several times reading these plays and expected them to be a snooze."
"Well, at first I was thinking of only giving this two stars, but it did grow on me. Other reviewers have commented on the weakness of the translation, and as they are familiar with Greek and I am not, I tend to defer to them. The main problem I had was Hadas' insisting on picking translations that rhymed, which may retain the sound of an original Greek play but sacrifices the meaning and context - in general the rhyming comes out sounding very amateurish also, although some of the translations are better than others. Hadas' introductions to each play are infuriatingly short, and there are no footnotes or other efforts to explain either the meaning or the translations to the casual reader.
There were some plays here I enjoyed in spite of these problems, however. Particularly "Lysistrata," "Birds" and "Plutus" were quite enjoyable, and some of the others were interesting in broadening my understanding of what the author thought, putting these into better perspective. The famous "Lysistrata," for example, in which the women of Sparta and Athens go on a sex strike to end a war, has led some readers to believe Aristophanes was an early feminist - but "Thesmophoriazusae" and especially "Ecclesiazusae" will put that misconception to rest. He was something of a pacifist, however, and people ending wars is a recurring theme. The "Birds" is a sort of Utopian fantasy - but simultaneously a parody of Athenian democracy - in which a couple of self-exiled Athenians establish an ideal city in the sky, peopled mostly by avian citizens. Hadas comments that "Plutus" was particularly popular in the Byzantine period because it required little comment for context, and this applies here also - it is easy to understand without the information Hadas does not supply. The god of Wealth is encountered on the road and captured by two well-meaning farmers, who restore his sight so that Wealth may be shared among the good people, but human weaknesses bring this ideal situation down.
The main advantage of this volume is that it cheaply collects all of these classic dramas in one place. In order to read them, however, one would need an expensive non-fiction book on Aristophanes and/or Greek drama to supplement this."
"I hate ass humor so Aristophanes and I were at odds from the first fart. The last in the litany of Greek playwrights I am reading through, my friend Matt best captured how I felt about most of these plays when he called them "bawdy." I admit to blushing. I admit to feeling prudish. I admit to several re-reading of lines followed by "Oh my god!" and then quick glancing around the apartment to see if anyone had caught me reading this. No one had. I live alone.
But getting past my nervous prudish ways, I also found myself constantly rethinking the plays from a modern day perspective. Several plays concern themselves with the evils of war, with specific jabs against war-hungry generals/politicians who are appear anti-peace because peace does not help them amass wealth or prestige - a theme I find in our present wars and past administration. In this way it's interesting to me how not difficult it was to imagine a modern version of these plays, or to relate to present day audiences (though the swinging phallus may have to go).
I am still working through three of the plays which present commentary on women in society. These I would love to see a modern feminist take on. They present complicated tropes: that women are more apt at promoting peace, even potentially more effective at governance, certainly adept at planning period. And whether presented in humor or not, these have the dual effect of commenting on men as a race and society which is itself useful. And yet at the same time, Aristophanes' women seem sex-crazed, manipulative, and present primarily for humor (the laughing at you kind), so that it is hard to take any commentary seriously, that is, if I can find what the commentary is meant to be."
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