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Title: Aristophanes the Acharnians the Clouds Lysistrata: Translated With an Introduction by Alan H. Sommerstein by Aristophanes ISBN: 0-14-044287-1 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1974 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)
Rating: 4
Summary: Translation with wit but without true character of original
Comment: Alan Sommerstein went to some length to translate the puns and plays on words (as further explained in the endnotes), which results in a very active play, and, for the careful reader, wit in nearly every line. He also uses the endnotes to explain further the Greek personalities mentioned in the plays, which adds to the understanding; my recommendation would be to read the play straight, then read the associated endnotes, then reread the play in question.
This translation captures the humor of the original, which ranges from low-brow slapstick to witty one-liners to political asides--a union of vaudeville, Oscar Wilde, and Mark Russell. However, what Sommerstein utterly misses is the form of ancient Greek comedy. The lyric choruses are rendered in choppy iambic lines, with many of them set to tunes from Gilbert & Sullivan. Aristophanes meant to use vulgarity in the acting, not in the lines of the Chorus.
Two stars for verbal wit, two stars for completeness of endnotes, and one star for my love of "Lysistrata", minus one star for excessive use of campy tunes.
(For those of you who do like his translations, or those just looking for the other eight plays, they are contained in two more volumes. Sommerstein collaborated with David Barrett in the volume Knights/Peace/Birds/Women's Assembly/Wealth, while Barrett translated Wasps/Women's Assembly/Frogs. Barrett takes less care with the translation of humor, but does not destroy the credibility of the choral lines.)
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Title: History of the Peloponnesian War (Penguin Classics) by Thucydides, Rex Warner ISBN: 0140440399 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1954 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Last Days of Socrates: Euthyphro/Apology/Crito/Phaedo (Penguin Classics) by Plato, Hugh Tredennick, Harold Tarrant ISBN: 014044582X Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1995 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: The Iliad of Homer by Homer, Richmond Lattimore ISBN: 0226469409 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 1961 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Classics in Translation (Latin Literature) by Paul L. MacKendrick, Herbert M. Howe ISBN: 0299808963 Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1952 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Plays and Fragments (Penguin Classics) by Menander, Norma Miller ISBN: 0140445013 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1988 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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