Phaedra (Masters of Latin Literature) - Softcover

Seneca

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801494338 ISBN 13: 9780801494338

Publisher: Cornell University Press, 1986

Synopsis

Ahl's translations of three Senecan tragedies will gratify and challenge readers and performers. With stage performance specifically in mind, Ah1 renders Seneca's dramatic force in a modern idiom and style that move easily between formality and colloquialism as the text demands, and he strives to reproduce the richness of the original Latin, to retain the poetic form, images, wordplays, enigmas, paradoxes, and dark humor of Seneca's tragedies.

Here is a moving and accomplished translation of this complex play dealing the the violent passions stirred by innocence and beauty and the terrible power of ideology, hatred, and misunderstanding.

About this title

Review

"In addition to proffering such supplementary information as is commonly found in translations aimed at the general public, Ahl argues that the Senecan tragedies were written for production...As for the translations themselves, they are excellent. They convey an impression of the Senecan poetic style rather than make an attempt to imitate it. Most important, the language is such that it can be clearly articulated and rendered at once comprehensible to an audience. Ahl rightly finds the style and texture of each play different and reflects such a difference in his translations. Classical World"

"Ahl's translations reveal a genuineimaginative response to the playwright. His work has a coherent dramatic shape and the quality of lyrical fantasy characteristic of Senecan language. I do not think a translator can come closer to being 'Senecan.' Eleanor Winsor Leach, Department of Classical Studies, Indiana University"

Book Description

This new edition concentrates on the dramatic qualities of Phaedra and examines the Greek and Roman background to the play.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Publication date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801494338
• ISBN 13: 9780801494338
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128