The anonymous author of the poem Pearl is rated with Langland and Chaucer as one of the greatest Middle English poets. And, while a number of editions of this poem have been published, including E. V. Gordon's 1953 edition and Marie Borroff's 1977 verse translation, no edition until now has included a verse translation, Middle English text, and commentary in one volume. William Vantuono's edition of Pearl is certain to become a classroom standard because it contains for the first time a Middle English text with a facing-page Modern English verse translation as well as extensive scholarly appar... View More...
"In the interval between the epics of Homer...and the age of the three great tragic poets, thinkers began to explore the various phenomena of the external world and came to understand many aspects of nature which had hitherto been shrouded in complete mystery. The creative literary activity of this epoch likewise betokens on the part of the Greeks an increasingly higher level of self-understanding and self-consciousness, in the best sense of the word. At this time appeared a group of lyric poets, who had looked deeply within their own natures, and through the vehicle of their poetry, made abun... View More...
A splendid new translation of the classic Arthurian tale of enchantment, adventure, and romance, presented alongside the original Middle English text. It is the height of Christmas and New Year's revelry when an enormous knight with brilliant green clothes and skin descends upon King Arthur's court. He presents a sinister challenge: he will endure a blow of the axe to his neck without offering any resistance, but whoever gives the blow must promise to take the same in exactly a year and a day's time. The young Sir Gawain quickly rises to the challenge, and the poem tells of the adventures he f... View More...
A splendid new translation of the classic Arthurian tale of enchantment, adventure, and romance, presented alongside the original Middle English text. It is the height of Christmas and New Year's revelry when an enormous knight with brilliant green clothes and skin descends upon King Arthur's court. He presents a sinister challenge: he will endure a blow of the axe to his neck without offering any resistance, but whoever gives the blow must promise to take the same in exactly a year and a day's time. The young Sir Gawain quickly rises to the challenge, and the poem tells of the adventures he f... View More...
Based on the conviction that only translators who write poetry themselves can best re-create 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. The tragedies collected here were originally available as single volumes. This new collection retains the informative introductions and explanatory notes of the original editions, with Greek line numbers and a single combined glossary added for easy reference. This... View More...
"These authoritative translations consign all other complete collections to the wastebasket." Robert Brustein, "The New Republic" "This is it. No qualifications. Go out and buy it everybody." Kenneth Rexroth, "The Nation" "The translations deliberately avoid the highly wrought and affectedly poetic; their idiom is contemporary....They have life and speed and suppleness of phrase." "Times Education Supplement" "These translations belong to our time. A keen poetic sensibility repeatedly quickens them; and without this inner fire the most academically flawless rendering is dead." Warren D. Anders... View More...
Highly acclaimed as translators of Greek and Sanskrit classics, respectively, David Grene and Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty here present a complete modern translation of the three plays comprising Aeschylus' Orestia and, with the assistance of director Nicholas Rudall, an abridged stage adaptation. This blanced and highly successful collaboration of scholars with a theater director solves the contemporary problems of translating and staging the Orestia, which originally was written to be performed in Athens in the first half of the fifth century B.C. While remaning faithful to the original Greek, ... View More...
Aeschylus' Oresteia, the only ancient tragic trilogy to survive, is one of the great foundational texts of Western culture. It begins with Agamemnon, which describes Agamemnon's return from the Trojan War and his murder at the hands of his wife Clytemnestra, continues with her murder by their son Orestes in Libation Bearers, and concludes with Orestes' acquittal at a court founded by Athena in Eumenides. The trilogy thus traces the evolution of justice in human society from blood vengeance to the rule of law, Aeschylus' contribution to a Greek legend steeped in murder, adultery, human sacrific... View More...
Aeschylus' Oresteia, the only ancient tragic trilogy to survive, is one of the great foundational texts of Western culture. It begins with Agamemnon, which describes Agamemnon's return from the Trojan War and his murder at the hands of his wife Clytemnestra, continues with her murder by their son Orestes in Libation Bearers, and concludes with Orestes' acquittal at a court founded by Athena in Eumenides. The trilogy thus traces the evolution of justice in human society from blood vengeance to the rule of law, Aeschylus' contribution to a Greek legend steeped in murder, adultery, human sacrific... View More...
Presented in hardcover, this title has been carefully edited and reset in a modern design for greater readability. It includes an introduction, informative notes and a chronology of the writer's life and times to enable the reader to gain a deeper understanding of these enduring works. View More...
Is Cupid and Psyche a romance, a folktale, a Platonic allegory of the nature of the soul, a Jungian tale of individuation, or an archetypal dream? This volume provides Joel Relihan's lively translation of this best known section of Apuleius' Golden Ass, some useful and illustrative parallels, and an engaging discussion of what to make of this classic story.
In all of literature, there are few books with the vitality of "The Golden Ass." The story follows Lucius, a young man of good birth, as he disports himself in the cities and along the roads of Thessaly. This is a wonderful tale abounding in lusty incident, curious adventure and bawdy wit. Robert Graves (1895-1985) was a British poet, novelist, translator, and critic. His many books include the historical novels "I, Claudius" and "Claudius the God," the autobiography "Good-bye to All That," and the mythic/literary studies "The White Goddess" and "The Greek Myths." In all of literature there ar... View More...
It is almost impossible to envision what childhood would be like without the enchanting world of the Arabian Nights. Beautiful princesses, genies who emerge from bottles, magic words that open doors to great treasure, giants and dwarves, monsters and magicians, talking birds and beasts, the magical world of medieval Bagdad -- these are the elements that thrill young boys and girls of all lands and all time.The Arabian Nights stories have long been favorites, but unfortunately in their original form they are far too long -- and often too erotic -- for children. Andrew Lang selected the best, mo... View More...
Originally adapted for the stage, Peter Meineck's revised translations achieve a level of fidelity appropriate for classroom use while managing to preserve the wit and energy that led The New Yorker to judge his CloudsThe best Greek drama we've ever seen anywhere," and The Times Literary Supplement to describe his Wasps as "Hugely enjoyable and very, very funny. A general Introduction, introductions to the plays, and detailed notes on staging, history, religious practice and myth combine to make this a remarkably useful teaching text.
This new verse translation of Aristophanes' comedies offers one of the world's great comic dramatists in a form that is both historically faithful and theatrically vigorous. Aristophanes' plays were produced for the festival theater of classical Athens in the fifth century BC and encompass the whole gamut of humor, from brilliantly inventive fantasy to obscene vulgarity. This edition includes a substantial general introduction and introductory essays for each of the plays, as well as full explanatory notes and an index of names. About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has ... View More...
A brand-new translation of the world's greatest satirist.
With a signature style that is at once bawdy and delicate, as well as a fearless penchant for lampooning the rich and powerful, Aristophanes remains arguably the finest satirist of all time. Collected here are all 11 of his surviving plays-newly translated by the distinguished poet and translator Paul Roche.
Aristophanes' comic masterpiece of war and sex remains one of the greatest plays ever written. Led by the title character, the women of the warring city-states of Greece agree to withhold sexual favors with their husbands until they agree to cease fighting. The war of the sexes that ensues makes Lysistrata a comedy without peer in the history of theater. View More...
