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The Oresteia: Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides (Penguin Classics)
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Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Author: Aeschylus
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $8.80
You Save: $ 2.20 ( 20% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Author: Aeschylus
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Average Customer Rating:
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The Oresteia: Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides (Penguin Classics) Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 882.01
EAN: 9780140443332
ISBN: 0140443339
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 336
Publication Date: 1984-02-07
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Studio: Penguin Classics
Dewey Decimal Number: 882.01
EAN: 9780140443332
ISBN: 0140443339
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 336
Publication Date: 1984-02-07
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Studio: Penguin Classics
Editorial Review of The Oresteia: Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides (Penguin Classics)
Customer Reviews of The Oresteia: Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides (Penguin Classics)
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The first "greatest story ever told."
Review: Like Bach's music, the Oresteia expresses early on the full panorama of the human spirit and soul. How do you stop the violence (in Iraq, Palestine, anywhere)? Moral lesson: Just Stop! This is mandatory reading for anyone who wants to put the DNA of Western Civilization under the microscope.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Required reading
Review: i first came across these stories when I was 14, i read them again in collage and have read them ever since. the Oresteia is essential literature, if nothing else because of the references it has generated over all of western Literature some examples being Dune by frank Herbert and Orestes by Perfect Circle. also because it is a really intresting study of family dynamics. i also recomend reading it BEFORE it is assigned to you. develop your own ideas to present to a class, get your own idea of it in your mind. I bought this paritcular translation because it was the one i was familar with an a decent one.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: An excellent trilogy
Review: Aeschylus (525-456 BC) is the father of Greek tragedies (one legend reports that Dionysus himself commanded Aeschylus to write them). Of the seventy tragedies that he wrote, only seven have survived to the present day. These three plays form the most complete tetralogy that we have (a tetralogy contained three tragedies and one satyr play - a semi-religious, semi-mocking performance that acted as a postlude to the tragic trilogy) - only the satyr play is missing.
In Agamemnon, the Greek king returns from the Trojan War, with his prize of the Trojan prophetess Cassandra. Cassandra knows that Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, will kill them, but she is fated to be not be believed. And so, the deed is done.
In The Libation Bearers, Clytemnestra has a nightmare that she gave birth to a snake, and so she sends her daughter Electra to Agamemnon's grave to pour out a libation. However, Electra meets her brother, Orestes, and the two plot revenge upon their mother, and her loved. And so, murder begets murder.
In The Eumenides, Orestes is fleeing the Furies, who are pursuing him for murdering his mother. Orestes flees to Apollo, who sends him on to Athens, to be judged by Athena herself.
This is an excellent trilogy. Even though it is over 2,000 years old, it still makes an interesting read. In particular, I enjoyed The Eumenides, with its battle of supernatural beings, and its showcasing of the development of Western jurisprudence. Overall, I found this to be an interesting and informative book, one that I do not hesitate to recommend to everyone.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: even better the second time around
Review: These are great plays, and this is a beautiful translation.
I think, though, that to really appreciate what Aeschylus accomplished (aided and abetted by Fagles), most modern readers should really read the entire trilogy twice.
When these plays were first performed, the entire audience would have known the story of Agamemnon's fate and Orestes' revenge from the Odyssey, and probably from other sources besides. The interest came from seeing how Aeschylus would reweave the tale - with what turns of phrase, what dramatic revelations, what poetic license, what new ways of glorifying Athens or bemoaning some new turn in Athenian politics.
The best way to replicate that experience is to read the entire trilogy once to see how it unfolds and how it ends, then to read it again for the nuances of language. Aeschylus is subtle, and Fagles brings out this subtlety in this translation: for example, almost every line uttered in the first part of Agamemnon has a double meaning (at least!), even rendered in English.
Not only this, but the dimensions of the tragedy become clearer the second time around. On the first reading, having forgotten much of the story, I found it gripping. On the second reading, I found it heartrending.
Like another reviewer on this site, I recommend skipping the introductory essay and diving right into the plays. Make up your own mind about what all of this means and why it might be important. Then read the essay if you want to see if you agree with it.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: How do you say a classic is way overated?
Review: Sure the poetry is great,
but these three plays make a small episode in modern terms...
A very slow one at that.
The three plays:
1) Agamemnon: The killing of the returned King and Cassandra the oracle by the wife and the cousin
2) The Libation Bearers: The meeting of Orestes and Electra at the gave and the killing of
the mother and cousin
3) The Eumenides: the trial by Athena of Orestes with Apollo defending
As plays go they are more excess of dialog than action...
many too long and very heavy speeches.
There are too many questions about the natures of these sins and the justice of revenge when men are the top civil authority in the bronze age, so later plays like these that bring in gods as judges were formulated. These plays survived their age to bring us the Greek ideals of justice,
but they fail to keep a modern audience awake!
I'm not impressed by Aeschylus' plays compared to other Greek plays that I've read by Sophocles.
Review Summary: The first "greatest story ever told."
Review: Like Bach's music, the Oresteia expresses early on the full panorama of the human spirit and soul. How do you stop the violence (in Iraq, Palestine, anywhere)? Moral lesson: Just Stop! This is mandatory reading for anyone who wants to put the DNA of Western Civilization under the microscope.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Required reading
Review: i first came across these stories when I was 14, i read them again in collage and have read them ever since. the Oresteia is essential literature, if nothing else because of the references it has generated over all of western Literature some examples being Dune by frank Herbert and Orestes by Perfect Circle. also because it is a really intresting study of family dynamics. i also recomend reading it BEFORE it is assigned to you. develop your own ideas to present to a class, get your own idea of it in your mind. I bought this paritcular translation because it was the one i was familar with an a decent one.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: An excellent trilogy
Review: Aeschylus (525-456 BC) is the father of Greek tragedies (one legend reports that Dionysus himself commanded Aeschylus to write them). Of the seventy tragedies that he wrote, only seven have survived to the present day. These three plays form the most complete tetralogy that we have (a tetralogy contained three tragedies and one satyr play - a semi-religious, semi-mocking performance that acted as a postlude to the tragic trilogy) - only the satyr play is missing.
In Agamemnon, the Greek king returns from the Trojan War, with his prize of the Trojan prophetess Cassandra. Cassandra knows that Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, will kill them, but she is fated to be not be believed. And so, the deed is done.
In The Libation Bearers, Clytemnestra has a nightmare that she gave birth to a snake, and so she sends her daughter Electra to Agamemnon's grave to pour out a libation. However, Electra meets her brother, Orestes, and the two plot revenge upon their mother, and her loved. And so, murder begets murder.
In The Eumenides, Orestes is fleeing the Furies, who are pursuing him for murdering his mother. Orestes flees to Apollo, who sends him on to Athens, to be judged by Athena herself.
This is an excellent trilogy. Even though it is over 2,000 years old, it still makes an interesting read. In particular, I enjoyed The Eumenides, with its battle of supernatural beings, and its showcasing of the development of Western jurisprudence. Overall, I found this to be an interesting and informative book, one that I do not hesitate to recommend to everyone.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: even better the second time around
Review: These are great plays, and this is a beautiful translation.
I think, though, that to really appreciate what Aeschylus accomplished (aided and abetted by Fagles), most modern readers should really read the entire trilogy twice.
When these plays were first performed, the entire audience would have known the story of Agamemnon's fate and Orestes' revenge from the Odyssey, and probably from other sources besides. The interest came from seeing how Aeschylus would reweave the tale - with what turns of phrase, what dramatic revelations, what poetic license, what new ways of glorifying Athens or bemoaning some new turn in Athenian politics.
The best way to replicate that experience is to read the entire trilogy once to see how it unfolds and how it ends, then to read it again for the nuances of language. Aeschylus is subtle, and Fagles brings out this subtlety in this translation: for example, almost every line uttered in the first part of Agamemnon has a double meaning (at least!), even rendered in English.
Not only this, but the dimensions of the tragedy become clearer the second time around. On the first reading, having forgotten much of the story, I found it gripping. On the second reading, I found it heartrending.
Like another reviewer on this site, I recommend skipping the introductory essay and diving right into the plays. Make up your own mind about what all of this means and why it might be important. Then read the essay if you want to see if you agree with it.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: How do you say a classic is way overated?
Review: Sure the poetry is great,
but these three plays make a small episode in modern terms...
A very slow one at that.
The three plays:
1) Agamemnon: The killing of the returned King and Cassandra the oracle by the wife and the cousin
2) The Libation Bearers: The meeting of Orestes and Electra at the gave and the killing of
the mother and cousin
3) The Eumenides: the trial by Athena of Orestes with Apollo defending
As plays go they are more excess of dialog than action...
many too long and very heavy speeches.
There are too many questions about the natures of these sins and the justice of revenge when men are the top civil authority in the bronze age, so later plays like these that bring in gods as judges were formulated. These plays survived their age to bring us the Greek ideals of justice,
but they fail to keep a modern audience awake!
I'm not impressed by Aeschylus' plays compared to other Greek plays that I've read by Sophocles.