The Theban Plays of Sophocles

"In this translation of the Theban plays of Sophocles, David R. Slavitt presents an accessible, modern version for both longtime admirers of the plays and those encountering them for the first time. Slavitt's translation preserves the innate verve and energy of the dramas, engaging the reader - or audience member - directly with Sophocles' texts. Slavitt chooses to present the plays not in narrative sequence but in the order in which they were composed - Antigone, Oedipus Tyrannos, Oedipus at Colonnus - thereby underscoring the fact that the story of Oedipus is one to which Sophocles returned over the course of his lifetime. This arrangement also lays bare the record of Sophocles' intellectual and artistic development." "In this volume Slavitt avoids personal intrusion on the texts and relies upon the theatrical machinery of the plays themselves. The result is a major contribution to the art of translation and a version of the Oedipus plays that will appeal enormously to readers, theater directors, and actors."--BOOK JACKET.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fantasy. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.