Favourite Greek Tragedian

I thought Aeschylus was meh until I read Ted Hughes' translation of the Oresteia. Holy shit.

BTW please don't actually vote Housman or you will have your eyes ripped out by a grieving mother

I waver on this one. Euripides is the most dramatically sophisticated and modern. Aeschylus is the most elemental. Sophocles can't be pigeon-holed quite as neatly, but he's great, too. (I have a weak spot for Philoctetes, even though it isn't his best.) The Housman satire is inspired, but too slender a reed upon which to stake his claim.

I'm going to mull this a bit longer.

Aeschylus. Not a hugely informed choice (only read these boys patchily and in translation - even with a Loeb get madly frustrated unpacking poetic attic & want to write sternly worded letter telling them to cut down on the # of words for grief/sorrow/dole/teen etc) but the Oresteia is it for me - endless violence becoming the civic.

have only read aeschylus. hum.

Euripides however I do have to engage a bit more with the Oresteia

I can never answer this one to my own satisfaction. Sophocles has probably meant the most to me, but the Oresteia is really something else - shoot, I'll even rep for Seven Against Thebes, which is pretty rough going if you're used to dramatic action. Euripides is great too although he's almost painfully hip on campus, or was 10+ years ago anyway. But - I mean - Colonus - that's really enough to seal the deal, I think. Sophocles may be even more modern that Euripides, in the end - he cares about how people feel, about their dignity.

Colonus - that's really enough to seal the deal

^^^this. One of the most powerful and uplifting pieces of writing out there - more sublime mystery play than tragedy, moe redemption than damnation, but also a treatise on human solitude and the discovery of dignity in independence, so naturally it has some fairly downbeat messages as well.

I wrote about Seven Against Thebes in my finals. It's pretty good. Very ritualistic, but the use of language and the presentation of that ritual is very engaging.

I mean, the first third of Colonus is spent showing quite how rejected Oedipus is, then the rest is his creation of a magical little universe, all to himself. It's like an only child's playhouse, but real. It's also a play about people revealing their real stripes when faced with blight.

I've said this before, but this is my favorite thing anywhere ever

wait no! that's the wrong one! I mean this

Ooh ty for the heads-up! I'm encouraged by how low-budget and stage-y it seems; Greek tragedy is better served like that, I think; you gotta bring out the elemental, not obscure it with visual illusion and sumptuous distracting detail.

oh hahahahahaha xpost ok fine that looks freaking awesome

And it's on DVD as part of a Great Performances series

it makes me cry like a child, every time

"live where you can/be as happy as you can/happier than God has made your father"

I remember watching that version when the Beeb first broadcast the whole trilogy. It was pretty mind-blowing.

euripides, for the bacchae alone

although, lol, this is true too: Euripides is great too although he's almost painfully hip on campus, or was 10+ years ago anyway

I remember watching that version when the Beeb first broadcast the whole trilogy. It was pretty mind-blowing.

― every time i pull a j/k off the shelf (Noodle Vague), Thursday, May 27, 2010 9:50 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha HOW LONG AGO WAS THAT? the idea of that happening is pretty o_o

unless it was bbc4 in which case i retract that thought

i liked antigone very much when they made us read it in high school

im not going to vote in this poll tho

First I narrowed it to Aeschylus and Sophocles, then I voted S. I could just as easily gone for A. Something to be said for each and no good way to decide.

haha HOW LONG AGO WAS THAT? the idea of that happening is pretty o_o

BBC2, I was still in my teens so some point mid-80s. Three nights, three plays, and me watching on the black and white portable in my room cos there was no way my Dad wd sit thru it.

What are people's thoughts on the various translations into English of these plays?

xpost

Akshully I think we had a colour portable by then.

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