The Oresteia: Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides (Penguin Classics)

The second play is the vehicle for Clytaemnestra's punishment, as her son Orestes returns to kill both her and Aegisthus with the help of his sister Electra.

Finally, the Eumenides has the trial of Orestes by Athena, as she stops the furies from taking him in return for the blood-guilt he incurred for killing his mother. The Eumenides provides the way to end the cycle of revenge by banishing the furies from active participation in the world of men.

The cycle can be read in any number of ways. The introduction to the Penguin/Fagles translation contains a summary of the various readings. I kept wondering what Proteus, the missing fourth satyr-play would have provided. We read it so clearly as a trilogy and the Eumenides has such a harmonious ending that I can't help but wonder if the circle closed in the third play reopens in the fourth or if it was something else entirely.

My only complaint about the book is that in the Fagles translation the notes are at the back of the book rather than assigned per page, and I find that a cumbersome style to read.


A Worthy Translation   February 25, 2002
Daniel Bay Gibbons (Salt Lake City, USA)
48 out of 53 found this review helpful

With his recent translations of Aeschylus, Sophocles and especially Homer, Robert Fagles assumes the status of the finest Greek translator of the age. The grandeur, excitement and triumph of this beautiful translation cannot be overstated. The Oresteia is truly one the most monumental and enduring legacies from the Golden Age. Here is a translation which befits the greatness of the subject.

Some additional random musings:

1. This is one of the many books I was "forced" to read in graded courses at the University, but only really first discovered when I was long graduated and freed from all compulsory studies. In the meantime I have also had the time and passion to study -- very slowly and with great delight -- the originals.

2. As with other "great" works of literature, my advice is to ignore what the "experts" have to say about the work and go straight to the work itself. Thus, skip the intimidating intro and dive right into the text, doubling back later only if the muse strikes you.

3. After reading and then rereading Fagles' new translation of the Agamemnon, Libation Bearers and Eumenides I am struck by the similarities of the Oresteia in both tone, theme and mien to the greatest Shakespearean tragedies, especially Hamlet. My dogeared copy of this Aeschylus is now bristling with notes and crossreferences to the Bard.


Gen X: READ THIS!   January 27, 1998
Adam Rubinson (rubinson@usia.gov) (Washington, DC)
29 out of 31 found this review helpful

Professor Fagles' translation of the Oresteia trilogy is the most powerful, moving, intense, bloody, achingly sad and beautiful drama I have ever read. As a typical member of the late Baby Boomer/early Gen X generation, I was never assigned such texts in school, and had the misconception that anything written by an ancient Greek must be boring, stale, and irrelevant. Fagles' Oresteia translation shows how misguided we are, and (along with his Illiad, Odyssey, and Three Theban Plays) opens up an incredible world to so many of us who have been in the dark.

Do not read this simply for your intellectual, moral, and spiritual improvement -- experience this because it is so enjoyable. "Pulp Fiction," "The Terminator," "The Titanic," Stephen King, or the latest Martin Scorcese film cannot compare for plot, intrigue, sex, violence, gore, intensity, entertainment, or cutting edge creativity.

From the plays' depiction of horrendous and unspeakable crimes to its climactic courtroom drama, you'll see why so many ancient playgoers fainted in the audience -- some women even having spontaneous miscarriages -- and why modern readers are so shocked and on the edge of their armchairs. Even if you've never read a "classic" or a "great book," read this.


Nothing like this has happened to the English language since Fitzgerald translated Omar Khayyam   December 2, 2003
F. P. Barbieri (London UK)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

What is the definition of a pedant? Someone who claims that Vellacott's translation of the Oresteia is "better" than Fagles' and complains about Fagles' supposed imprecision. That is seriously missing the forest for the knots in the lower branches of some of the smaller trees.

Translation is necessary; nobody can know all the classical languages of the world, and few people who want to familiarize themselves with the great works of literature outside their own language have the time to master even a few of the languages required. And sound translation is a blessing. But it is very rare that one gets a translation that is itself a masterpiece of literature, that embeds itself into the language as a classic. I think we can all think of a few: Schelling's German versions of Shakespeare, which have been acted and reprinted for more than two centuries, Monti's Italian Iliad, the English Authorized Version of the Bible, Pope's and Chapman's Iliad - both beautiful, both unfaithful - and Fitzgerald's Rubayyat.

Now as far as I am concerned this translation is that of that rare quality: something that will be read with pleasure and admiration as English verse, two hundred years from now. Those who whine about its being imprecise ought to remember that Italy's premier Iliad translator, Monti, knew no Greek and worked from Latin and earlier Italian versions; yet, being a great poet, he produced an account that has established itself at the heights of the Italian literary heritage. I first read Fagles' Oresteia at 18, in a Penguin paperback dotted with admiring reviews from everyone from Mary Renault to Bernard Levin; and I was so blown away that for a couple of days I could do nothing but bend the ear of all my friends and repeat - "And I thought Shakespeare was something!"

A quarter century has passed, and I have not changed my mind. This book is "all that with a cherry on top"; a rip-roaring ride of imaginative language, brilliantly inventive metrics, powerful imagery, and terrifying suspence. It is a work of genius in English poetry.

"O men, your destiny.
When all is well a shadow can overturn it.
When trouble comes, a stroke of the wet sponge
And the picture's blotted out; and that -
I think that breaks the heart."


Simply Amazing   August 3, 2004
Tory
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

Over the years, I have read a number of different translations of the Orestia. When I finally got around to reading Robert Fagles translation after devouring his Illiad, I was simply amazed. Aeschylus is the father of the European tragedy. Not only is Aeschylus the root of tragedy, his are the perfect tragedies. I can think of no story more sorrowful than the Orestia. This translation brings that sorrow that much closer to the breast. I cannot recommend this work highly enough.