Status Updates From Greek Tragedies, Volume 2: ...

I just finished Euripedes’ Electra. I didn’t fall in love with any of the versions of this story, but having read both Libation Bearers and Sophocles’ account, I do think Euripides’ telling was the most interesting. It does poke fun at some of the implausible plot devices of the other plays, and it also shifts the audience’s sympathy away from Electra and Orestes and towards Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus.

Iphigenia at Tauris may be my favorite play of the two volumes so far. It has some of the most beautiful language of any of the Greek tragedies I have read and is full of humor. The reunion plot is great. Putting a pin in this one because I would like to revisit other translations. I want to get to Iphigenia at Aulis too but that one wasn’t included in this anthology.

I have been liking David Grene’s translations more than Lattimore’s. I enjoyed Sophocles’ Electra, but I’m a little uncertain about the message. It ends in triumph rather than tragedy, and we do not see Orestes reflect on the weight of his actions. There is a sort of morbid satisfaction in seeing the usurper get his due, but I guess I don’t know what we’re meant to learn about justice.

Finished Libation Bearers. I have found Lattimore’s translations a little more difficult than Grene’s but this was easier than Agamemnon. I’m a little confused by Orestes’ sense of remorse at the end, but maybe I can clarify some of his remarks by looking at another translation. I wonder if things will ever start to look up for the house of Atreus. Outlook not so good

Starting with the Lattimore translation of The Libation Bearers. Like his translation of Agamemnon, I have found this a little difficult compared to some of the other translations I’ve read. I didn’t think his Iliad was so tough, but apparently Lattimore tends to be more faithful to the original Ancient Greek texts so that may account for some of the difficulty.