Medea - Softcover

Euripides

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099511770 ISBN 13: 9780099511779

Publisher: Vintage Classics, 2009

Synopsis

THE ACCLAIMED TRANSLATION BY ROBIN ROBERTSON (FORWARD PRIZE, MAN BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLIST 2018)

Euripides' Medea, the brutally powerful ancient Greek tragedy that reverberates down the centuries, has been brought to fresh and urgent life by one of our best modern poets.

Medea has been betrayed. Her husband Jason has left her for a younger woman. He has forgotten all the promises he made and is even prepared to abandon their two sons. But Medea is not a woman to accept such disrespect passively. Strong-willed and fiercely intelligent, she turns her formidable energies to working out the greatest, and most horrifying, revenge possible...

Suitable for the general reader as well as for students and performers.

'In Robertson's lucid, free-running verse, Medea's power is released into the world, fresh and appalling, in words that seem spoken for the first time' Anne Enright

'This version of Medea is vivid, strong, readable and brings triumphantly into modern focus the tragic sensibility of the ancient Greeks' John Banville

'Robertson's achievement is to make the dialogue flow without losing the unsettling poetry of the original' Financial Times

About this title

Review:

"The purpose of translation is to set a play free. This is just what Robin Robertson does. In his lucid, free-running verse, Medea's power is released into the world, fresh and appalling, in words that seem spoken for the first time." (Anne Enright)

"The greatest works demand constant re-translation to meet the changing culture of the age, and Robin Robertson has given us a Medea fit for our times; his elegant and lucid free translation of Euripides' masterpiece manages the trick of sounding wholly contemporary but never merely 'modern' - and will be an especially lucky discovery for those encountering the play for the first time." (Don Paterson)

"Robertson is master of the dark and wounded, the torn complexities of human relations, and Medea offers a perfect match for his sensibilities. This is an urgent, contemporary and eloquent translation" (A.L. Kennedy)

"This version of Medea is vivid, strong, readable, and brings triumphantly into modern focus the tragic sensibility of the ancient Greeks" (John Banville)

"His version of Medea feels newly minted thanks to the pitch perfection of his linguistic choices. Robertson's skill lies in bringing the words of a long dead Greek to life, not merely to live but to cavort in the mind's ear" (Scotland on Sunday)

From the Publisher:

We are extremely lucky to have this bold new translation by award-winning and critically acclaimed poet Robin Robertson. It is perfect for the general reader, the student and the anyone looking to perform this shocking and heart-shattering play. Medea is one of the most memorable and famous figures from Greek myth and Euripides depiction of her is extraordinarily powerful.

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage Classics
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0099511770
• ISBN 13: 9780099511779
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 112