CLASSICAL ATHENS AUTHOR · DRAMA · TRANSLATIONS INTO ENGLISH
Aristophanes
Also known as: Aristophane, ca 445-ca 386 av. J.-C Aristophane
Aristophanes (; Ancient Greek: Ἀριστοφάνης [aristopʰánɛːs]; c. 446 – c. 386 BC) was an Ancient Greek comic playwright from Athens. He wrote forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete. The majority of his surviving plays belong to the genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are considered its most valuable examples. Aristophanes's plays were performed at the religious festivals of Athens, mostly the City Dionysia and the Lenaia, and several of them won the first prize in their respective competitions. Also known as "The Father of Comedy" and "the Prince of Ancient Comedy", Aristophanes wrote plays that often dealt with real-life figures, including Euripides and Alcibiades, and contemporary events, such as the Peloponnesian War.
Dane St. Gregory, fifth baron of Kenbrook, raised one gloved hand in a gesture of weary command.
— from Knights, 1996
Most acclaimed
Fragments
The eleven plays by Aristophanes that have come down to us intact brilliantly illuminate the eventful period spanned by his forty-year career, beginning with the first production in 427 BCE. But the Athenians knew much more of his work: over forty plays by Aristophanes were read in antiquity, of which nearly a thousand fragments survive. These provide a fuller picture of the poet's ever astonishing comic vitality and a wealth of information and insights about his world. Jeffrey Henderson's new widely acclaimed Loeb edition of Aristophanes is completed by this volume containing what survives from, and about, his lost plays, hitherto inaccessible to the non-specialist, and incorporating the enormous scholarly advances that have been achieved in recent years. Each fragmentary play is prefaced by a summary of what can be inferred about its plot, characters, themes, theatricality, and topical significance. Also included in this edition are the ancient reports about Aristophanes' life, works, and influence on the later comic tradition. Jeffrey Henderson is William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of Greek Language and Literature at Boston University. He is General Editor of the Loeb Classical Library. -- Jacket.
Knights
1996
Aristófanes (444 - 385 a. C.) es, sin ningún género de duda, el gigante de la comedia griega antigua. Contemporáneo de figuras tan importantes como Sócrates, Sófocles y Eurípides, el comediógrafo ateniense vivió en una época dorada de la cultura griega, marcada también por la guerra entre Esparta y Atenas, que se desarrolló a lo largo de casi treinta años. Habituado a incluir en sus comedias personajes contemporáneos a él y a tratar temas de actualidad para la Atenas de entonces, Aristófanes hace de Los caballeros (424 a. C.) un claro manifiesto antibelicista en contra de continuar la guerra en la que estaban inmersos los atenienses en ese momento y que buena parte de la población consideraba innecesaria. El ataque contra los que apoyan la guerra se personifica en el Paflagonio, un trasunto del político y militar Cleón, a quien Aristófanes odiaba por considerarlo un arribista ávido de poder y riqueza. A pesar de la seriedad del tema, Los caballeros es, como todas las comedias de Aristófanes, una pieza divertida en la que se hace una crítica mordaz y virulenta dirigida contra los políticos que apoyan las guerras e ignoran los deseos del pueblo.
Birds
The poems in Judith Wright's Birds volume have long been recognised as among the best-loved poems written in Australia. Many people have grown up with the beguiling rhythms of 'Black Cockatoos', or the jauntiness of 'The Wagtail'. Now, in this new edition, commemorating 25 years since the poems were last published as a single collection, these works appear with six additional poems and a personal introduction by the poet's daughter Meredith McKinney, for whom many of the poems were written. The poems are complemented by full-colour illustrations drawn from the National Library's Pictures Collection, featuring the work of artists such as John Lewin, Lionel Lindsay and Lilian Medland, and William T. Cooper and Betty Temple Watts. Birds is both a celebration of Judith Wright (1915-2000) as writer and passionate environmentalist, and of the centrality of birds in the poet's imagination.