About this title: Revising and updating his classic 1958 translation, Paul Roche captures the dramatic power and intensity, the subtleties of meaning, and the explosive emotions of Sophocles' great Theban trilogy. In vivd, poetic language, he presents the timeless story of a noble family moving toward catastrophe, dragged down from wealth and power by pride, cursed ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
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: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Book shows wear to corners and edges of cover. Spine has wear at edges. Contains notes/highlighting/underlining throughout book. Book is in good reading condition. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Plume Book
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780452011670ISBN:0452011671
Description: Fair. Printed 2004. ppaerback. book has light water damage to very bottom(1 inch from bottom edge). 1/3 of book has wear and crease at lower right corner. has writing on first page. cover has edgewear. front cover has damages to lower right corner. read more
Description: Good. Trade paperback. Good, with average condition problems for its age. Book has been read but remains straight, and tight. Has underlining and/or marginalia in pencil on internal pages. In sealed plastic protection. 1996. Trade paperback. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Mentor Books
Date Published: 1958
Description: Good. Good Mass Market Paperback, moderate cover wear, no spine creasing, pages yellowed, writing on less than 5% of pages name written inside front cover. read more
Description: Sophocles; trans. by Paul Roche., Meridian (Penguin Group), 1996, c1986, 1st printing, illus. soft cover (trade size paperback), two instances of underlining o/w very near fine, 267 pp with notes & glossary of classical names, small 8vo, ISBN: 0452011671, 'Revised and updated version of the classic 1958 translation of Sophocles' great Theban trilogy', 'Complete Texts of Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone' read more
"I've read and taught "Oedipus Rex" countless times, but I had never read the other two plays in the trilogy. Sophocles wrote them many, many years apart, and they all feel very different from each other. Because of this, it's hard to compare them, but I think I like "Oedipus at Colonus" the best overall. The scenes between Oedipus and his two daughters are really touching, and he's much more human than in the first play (and than Creon in the third). For the few days I was reading these, I noticed I had some pretty dark dreams--there's something just primordial about these stories."
"Much as I expected, my favorites were "Oedipus the King," then "Antigone," and lastly "Oedipus at Colonus." That last play wasn't a bad play; it just didn't have any of the same intensity of emotion or tension as the other two in the book, and so paled in comparison for me (although I can see that obviously it has complexity of meaning etc - just personal preference -wise, not my thing). "Antigone" was pretty great, especially Creon's touting of human law over divine dictate, which I felt looped back to Oedipus Rex again, but at first (first 400 lines, maybe) I found the characters of Isthene and Antigone rather one-dimensional and predictable, Isthene in particular. Some of Sophocles' messages also seemed more explicit in "Antigone" than in "Oedipus," at least in this translation, something that I don't usually enjoy in my reading. I was very happy however that I read these three plays together, as opposed to separately, because then a certain unity of themes could be easily perceived, for example re: hubris, divine omnipotence (of sorts) slash inescapability of fate, fallibility of man, necessity of proper respect in regards to the gods, etc etc etc.
"One of the benefits of a job like mine is that you get to talk about great books all the time. Antigone has been one of my favorites for a long time, and I've been teaching it for a long time. Then I added Oedipus the King. I think there's a reason that Aristotle thought this the greatest tragedy ever written (although I still have to give a slight nod to Antigone over it for myself). Now I have finally added Oedipus at Colonus to the curriculum, and I'm glad I did. Sophocles has probably surpassed Aeschylus in my book as Greek playwrights, but just barely.
Antigone is still the the most thought-provoking of the three plays for me, but the relentless, driving pace of Oedipus the King excites me, and the most emotional is Oedipus at Colonus - Sophocles' lament, perhaps eulogy is a better word, for a dying Athens (and surely also filled with the hope of a Phoenix-like rebirth)."
"I found this book to be a more simpler read than Hamlet. Hamlet was written in old English so a modern day version is hard to fully translate. Yet, I found the story of Antigone and Oedpidus to be thought provoking as well. The book had a simple storyline but made me think about whether fate really exists or not. It is impossible to tell for sure whether there is such as thing called destiny. I feel that people need to understand that their actions are meaningful and that there is never a definite in life."
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