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Seven Against Thebes

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SKU:
504
Condition:
Good - Very minimal shelfwear; pages are clean and unmarked with only the previous owner's name written on the inside cover.
Format:
Paperback, 88 pages
Publisher:
Oxford University Press , 1991
Edition:
First Oxford Paperbacks Edition, First Printing
Based on the conviction that only translators who write poetry themselves can properly recreate the celebrated and timeless tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the Greek Tragedy in New Translations series offers new translations that go beyond the literal meaning of the Greek in order to evoke the poetry of the originals. Under the general editorship of William Arrowsmith and Herbert Golder, each volume includes a critical introduction, commentary on the text, full stage directions, and a glossary of the mythical and geographical references in the plays. The formidable talents of Anthony Hecht, one of the most gifted of contemporary American poets, and Helen Bacon, a classical scholar, are here brought to bear on this vibrant translation of Aeschylus' much underrated tragedy The Seven Against Thebes. The third and only remaining play in a trilogy dealing with related events, The Seven Against Thebes tells the story of the Argive attempt to claim the Kingdom of Thebes, and of the deaths of the brothers Eteocles and Polyneices, each by the others hand. Long dismissed by critics as ritualistic and lacking in dramatic tension, Seven Against Thebes is revealed by Hecht and Bacon as a work of great unity and drama, one exceptionally rich in symbolism and imagery.

Based on the conviction that only translators who write poetry themselves can properly recreate the celebrated and timeless tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the Greek Tragedy in New Translations series offers new translations that go beyond the literal meaning of the Greek in order to evoke the poetry of the originals.  Under the general editorship of William Arrowsmith and Herbert Golder, each volume includes a critical introduction, commentary on the text, full stage directions, and a glossary of the mythical and geographical references in the plays.

The formidable talents of Anthony Hecht, one of the most gifted of contemporary American poets, and Helen Bacon, a classical scholar, are here brought to bear on this vibrant translation of Aeschylus' much underrated tragedy The Seven Against Thebes. The third and only remaining play in a trilogy dealing with related events, The Seven Against Thebes tells the story of the Argive attempt to claim the Kingdom of Thebes, and of the deaths of the brothers Eteocles and Polyneices, each by the others hand. Long dismissed by critics as ritualistic and lacking in dramatic tension, Seven Against Thebes is revealed by Hecht and Bacon as a work of great unity and drama, one exceptionally rich in symbolism and imagery.

Editorial Review(s)

"A superb rescue of a powerful Athenian tragedy from the trash heaps. Ideal not only for students who must read the play in translation but also as a companion to the Greek text."  --George E. Dimock, Smith College

About the Author

Aeschylus, an ancient Greek playwright and often recognized as the father or the founder of tragedy, was born of noble family near Athens in 525 BC. He took part in the Persian Wars, and his epitaph represents him as fighting at Marathon. He wrote more than seventy plays, of which only seven have survived, all translated for Penguin Classics: The Supplicants, The Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Prometheus Bound, Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides.

Anthony Hecht is among America's most distinguished poets, and has received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1968 and the Loines Award of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. He has also been a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and is the author of numerous books of verse.

Helen Bacon is Professor of Classics at Barnard College, and has been scholar-in-residence at the American Academy in Rome, a Fullbright Fellow, and a Fellow of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. She is the author of Barbarians in Greek Tragedy.