The Phoenician Women

By Euripides

Book Overview

Here, Peter Burian and Brian Swann recreate Euripides' The Phoenician Women, a play about the fateful history of the House of Laios following the tragic fall of Oedipus, King of Thebes. Their lively translation of this controversial play reveals the cohesion and taut organization of a complex dramatic work. Through the use of dramatic, fast-paced poetry--almost cinematic it its rapidity of tempo and metaphorical vividness--Burian and Swann capture the original spirit of Euripides' drama about the deeply and disturbingly ironic convergence of free will and fate. Presented with a critical introduction, stage directions, a glossary of mythical Greek names and terms, and a commentary on difficult passages, this edition of The Phoenician Women makes a controversial tragedy accessible to the modern reader.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195077083
• ISBN13: 9780195077087
• Release Date: October 1992
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The folly of war: will Athens listen?

This play by Euripides is another version of the story of the conflict between the two sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polyneices. It has an unusual title in that the Phoenician women are the chorus, observers of the battle between Thebes under Eteocles and the Argive army assembled by Polyneices and his father-in-law, the King of Argos. Once again, Euripides is showing Athens the folly of war.