About this title: A brand-new translation of the world's greatest satirist. With a signature style that is at once bawdy and delicate, as well as a fearless penchant for lampooning the rich and powerful, Aristophanes remains arguably the finest satirist of all time. Collected here are all 11 of his surviving plays-newly translated by the distinguished poet and translator Paul Roche.
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Binding: Paperback
Publisher: NAL Trade
Date Published: 2005-02-01
ISBN-13:9780451214096ISBN:0451214099
Description: New in None as issued jacket. New, unread copy with publishers inventory mark. We ship 6 days a week, generally within 24 hours; single CDs and DVDs upgraded to 1st class! read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: New Amer Library
Date Published: 2005-01-31
ISBN-13:9780451214096ISBN:0451214099
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780451214096. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: NAL Trade
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780451214096ISBN:0451214099
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: NEW AMER LIB
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780451214096ISBN:0451214099
Description: A brand-new translation of the world's greatest satirist. With a signature style that is at once bawdy and delicate, as well as a fearless penchant for lampooning the rich and powerful, Aristophanes remains arguably the finest satirist of all time. 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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