Reader's report
"One of the most effective styles I have seen in a translation."


Joseph Russo, Professor of Classics, Haverford College
"A lucid, well-paced translation, natural enough sounding in the dialogue to make a good acting version."


Book Description
Paul Woodruff's translation of one of Sophocles' most famous tragedies captures the dramatic and poetic intensity of the ancient Greek play without sacrificing accuracy. This edition also features an Introduction and annotations by the translator.


Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Greek


The Merriam-Webster Encylopedia of Literature
Drama by Sophocles, possibly performed in 442 or 441 BC. It examines the conflicting obligations of civic duties versus personal loyalties and religious mores. Antigone concerns that part of the Oedipus story that occurs after Eteocles and Polyneices have killed each other over the succession to the throne of Thebes. Antigone's uncle Creon succeeds to the throne and decrees that anyone who buries the dishonored Polyneices will face capital punishment. Antigone, however, obeys her instincts of love and loyalty and defies the orders of her uncle, willing to face the consequences of her act of humanity. Believing that civic duty outweighs family ties, Creon refuses to commute Antigone's death sentence. By the time he is finally persuaded to free Antigone, she has killed herself. The discovery of her body prompts Creon's son, Haemon, to kill himself out of love and sympathy for the dead Antigone, and Creon's wife, Eurydice, then kills herself out of grief over these tragic events. At the play's end Creon is left desolate and broken.


About the Author
Paul Woodruff is Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas, Austin. His translations of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus (with Peter Meineck) and Euripides' Bacchae are also available from Hackett Publishing Company.

ANNOTATION

Paul Woodruff's translation of one of Sophocles' most famous tragedies captures the dramatic and poetic intensity of the ancient Greek play without sacrificing accuracy. This edition also features an Introduction and annotations by the translator.

Author Biography: Paul Woodruff is Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas, Austin. His translations of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus (with Peter Meineck) and Euripides' Bacchae are also available from Hackett Publishing Company.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Oedipus, the former ruler of Thebes, has died. Now, when his young daughter Antigone defies her uncle, Kreon, the new ruler, because he has prohibited the burial of her dead brother, she and he enact a primal conflict between young and old, woman and man, individual and ruler, family and state, courageous and self-sacrificing reverence for the gods of the earth and perhaps self-serving allegiance to the gods of the sky." "Echoing through Western culture for more than two millennia, Sophocles' Antigone has been a touchstone of thinking about human conflict and human tragedy, the role of the divine in human life, and the degree to which men and women are the creators of their own destinies. This exciting new translation of the play is extremely faithful to the Greek, eminently playable, and poetically powerful." For readers, actors, students, teachers, and theatrical directors, this new translation of one of the greatest plays in the history of the Western world provides the best combination of contemporary, powerful language, along with superb background and notes on meaning, interpretation, and ancient beliefs, attitudes, and contexts.

SYNOPSIS

Great drama reveals the grim fate that befalls the children of Oedipus.

FROM THE CRITICS

Joseph Russo

A lucid, well-paced translation, natural enough sounding in the dialogue to make a good acting version.

Library Journal