Customer Reviews

a fine translation. - By: deadbeat, 23 Jul 2004
Following a battle for supremacy, Eteocles & Polyneices, the two sons of Oedipus, kill each other, leaving Creon, the brother-in-law to Oedipus, as ruler of Thebes. Since Polyneices lead the attacking force against Thebes, Creon labelled him a traitor & denied him any funeral rites. Anyone who countermanded this law would do so on pain of death.

This is the backdrop to The Burial at Thebes, formerly know as Antigone, the last playin the Oedipus trilogy by Sophocles.

It is a play of desperate & wrenching simplicity. The eponymous Antigone, sister of Polyneices, is faced with a choice: to choose between obeying the dictates of family love,in giving burial to her slaughtered brother, or to obey the laws of the state, as represented by King Creon. Her choice is made without hesitation, to honour the dead & defy the state. This is done at a terrible cost. She not only relinquished her own life but also her betrothed's, Haemon son of Creon, who fell on his own sword when he saw her dead. Following Haemon's death, Creon's wife, Euripides, takes up Creon's sword & after cursing her husband kills herself. Creon ends the play a broken man. His pride, his stubbornnessin refusing to rescind the death penalty, ultimately cost him his wife & only son.

Many elements of the play lend themselves to modern times & dilemmas, but unlike some other translators, Heaney has the sense to trustin the original, & adds littlein the way of anxiously contemporary signposting. He keeps the lines taut & clear, making the effect of this play all the more powerful. Antigone contains some choruses which are among the most famousin all Greek tragedy, & Heaney gives a very impressive account of these, adding a kind of dark burnish to the verbal atmosphere of his translation.

If you are an admirer of Greek tragedy I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book. Also, if you enjoyed Heaney's Beowulf, you will like this too. It is another great reinvention of a classic.