Sophocles: Oedipus the King

A New Verse Translation
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-0-19-885484-5
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 122 Seiten, Format (B × H): 127 mm x 193 mm, Gewicht: 136 g

Oedipus the King is the best-known play we have from the pen of Sophocles and was recognized as a masterpiece in Aristotle's Poetics, which cites the play more often than any other as an example of how to write tragedy.

The principal character is the king of a city ravaged by a mysterious plague, who consults Apollo at Delphi and is told that the plague will end only when those who killed the previous king, Laius, are found and punished. He launches an investigation, in the course of which he learns not only that he is himself the killer, but that Laius was his father and Laius' widow, whom he married, his own mother. As a result of this revelation Oedipus changes from being a respected king and conscientious investigator into a polluted and self-blinded outcast.

This volume presents a highly-polished English verse translation of Sophocles' powerful play which renders both the beauty of his language and the horror of the events being dramatized. A detailed introduction and notes clearly elucidate how the plot is constructed and the meaning this construction implies, as well as how Sophocles ably concealed the fact that his characters act in ways which differ from what we expect in real life. It also addresses influential misinterpretations, thereby offering an accessible and authoritative introduction to the play that will be of benefit to a wide range of readers.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kovacs, David

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Dramen und Dramatiker
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Volkskunde: Sitten, Traditionen, Mythen, Legenden
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Klassische Literaturwissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Theaterwissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Introduction

- 1. Sophocles and the great age of Athenian tragedy

- 1a. What we know of Sophocles' life

- 1b. How to avoid turning Sophocles into the wrong kind of classic

- 2. The conditions of tragic performance in the fifth century BC

- 3. The divine dimension: on not misunderstanding Sophocles' Oedipus the King

- 3a. The role of Apollo in what happens before the play opens

- 3b. Apollo at work within the play

- 3c. Some general considerations in favour of an active Apollo

- 3d. How much pure coincidence is there in Oedipus the Kinga

- 3e. What was Apollo's reason for ruining Oedipusa

- 3f. Justifying the ways of God to man

- 4. A further source of confusion: Sophocles' manipulation of the plot

- 5. The ending

- 5a. The scene with the daughters

- 5b. Why is Oedipus made to re-enter the palacea

- 6. The translation: its aims and methods

- 7. The Greek text: departures from Lloyd-Jones and Wilson, Sophoclis Fabulae (second impression, Oxford 1992)

- Works cited

- OEDIPUS THE KING, a verse translation

- Notes to the translation

- Endmatter

- Suggestions for further reading

- Index

Über Autor(innen)

After receiving his doctorate from Harvard University in 1976, David Kovacs joined the classics faculty at the University of Virginia, where he taught Greek and Latin language and literature for forty years.