Alcestis, Medea, Hippolytus

This new volume of three of Euripides' most celebrated plays offers graceful, economical, metrical translations that convey the wide range of effects of the playwright's verse, from the idiomatic speech of its dialogue to the high formality of its choral odes.

"Many scholars translate the works of Euripides as they should be, but Diane Arnson Svarlien translates them as they are. . . . Arnson Svarlien shows admirable modesty and restraint in avoiding . . . pitfalls, and makes choices that reveal the meaning of the text she is translating with the least imposition of her own personality.  The ambiguity of Euripides is transmitted to us but not imposed on us by [her] translation. . . . The translations are both readable and playable." —Edmond Chibeau, New England Theatre Journal 

SKU
26467g

Euripides
Translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien
Introduction and Notes by Robin Mitchell-Boyask

2007 - 248 pp.

Ebook edition available for $10.50, see purchasing links below.

Grouped product items
Format ISBN Price Qty
Cloth 978-0-87220-823-0
$35.00
Paper 978-0-87220-822-3
$12.00
Instructor Examination (Review) Copy 978-0-87220-822-3
$2.00

This new volume of three of Euripides' most celebrated plays offers graceful, economical, metrical translations that convey the wide range of effects of the playwright's verse, from the idiomatic speech of its dialogue to the high formality of its choral odes.

Reviews:

"Diane Arnson Svarlien's body of work means a quantum leap forward in the vibrancy and immediacy of classical verse drama. I first learned of her work when I was searching, madly, for a translation of Medea for a production I had been hired to direct. I sought out every published version. I tried to track down any unpublished ones rumored to exist. All the others were wanting; her translation was revelatory. Merely read her translation of the play, then read another. You will sense the difference. This is particularly true if you are a practitioner of theatre."
     —Patrick Wang, Director of Diane Arnson Svarlien's Medea in its world premiere at the Stella Adler Studio, and of the feature film In the Family, nominated for a "Best First Feature" Independent Spirit Award. Retrieved from monkeyatatypewriter.com

"The excellent Introduction by Robin Mitchell-Boyask displays an admirable command of up-to-date scholarship and judiciously leaves controversial matters open to one's own interpretation.  Arnson Svarlien's verse translation has both elegance and power—it reads well, not just to the eye, but (happily for the director and actors) also to the ear."
     —Ian Storey, Department of Classics, Trent University

"Mitchell-Boyask's Introduction gives the reader a lively and accessible overview of Euripides' life, the circumstances of the original performances, and critical debate on the three plays.  Footnotes to the translations provide students with useful background without over-burdening the text.
      "The translations themselves are lively, vigorous, colorful, and direct, while remaining very close to the Greek; I laughed out loud more than once when I realized that, yes, this was exactly what Euripides had said.  Arnson Svarlien has also taken care with the meter.  Iambic trimeter, the 'spoken' meter of Greek, has been represented with iambic pentameter in English; but even in the lyric passages, whose meters do not translate into English, responsion within odes has been preserved.  Yet all of this attention to such details of meter and accuracy sacrifices nothing in clarity or pace.  Arnson Svarlien's translations are an ideal introduction to Euripides for students with no Greek and little knowledge of the ancient world.  They remind me of why I love Euripides."
     —Laurel Bowman, Department of Classics, University of Victoria

"It's decisively the best translation I have seen—it doesn't strain for cheap effects and is written with a sure control of contemporary English that is moving and faithful to the pathos of Phaedra's plight."
     —Tom Tucker, Department of English, Isothermal Community College

"Provides thoughtful, clear and sprightly translations of the works included. . . . Mitchell-Boyask's introduction presents a brief and intelligent overview of Euripides' biography and reputation in antiquity, followed by a short explanation of the City Dionysia and an examination of Euripides' career in the festival.  Finally, Mitchell-Boyask reviews the historical context, plot, central characters, conflicts, and thematic issues of each play.
     "After Mitchell-Boyask's introduction comes Svarlien's preface, in which she briefly discusses tragic language and meter and describes her methodology in translating.  Svarlien has made an effort to provide a given Greek word with a consistent English translation throughout.  Hence, for example, Aidôs usually appears as "reverence," sophrosynē as "wise restraint."  However, as she says, "total consistency in this regard is neither possible nor desireable" (xxxiv).  She has used iambic pentameters to correspond to Euripides' trimeters and anapests to correspond with anapests; for the lyric passages, she has not necessarily followed Euripides metrically, but has very successfully attempted to incorporate responsion between strophes and antistrophes.  These efforts are one of the great attractions of the volume. 
     "The translations themselves seem to take their cue from the quality of sapheneia for which Euripides was known.  There is a great clarity and simplicity to many of the verses. . . . the translations run smoothly and represent well the snap of Euripidean stichomythia, the rhetorical bent of his speeches, and the graceful yearning characteristic of his odes."
      —Jennifer Clarke Kosak, New England Classical Journal

"Many scholars translate the works of Euripides as they should be, but Diane Arnson Svarlien translates them as they are.
     "Arnson Svarlien shows admirable modesty and restraint in avoiding . . . pitfalls, and makes choices that reveal the meaning of the text she is translating with the least imposition of her own personality.  The ambiguity of Euripides is transmitted to us but not imposed on us by [her] translation.
     "The translations are both readable and playable."
      —Edmond Chibeau, New England Theatre Journal [19.2, 2008] 

"Arnson Svarlien's Medea reveals a translator who can write with genuine distinction, in proper sentences, with a rare sense of rhythm."
      —Malcolm Heath in Greece and Rome

 

About the Authors:

Diane Arnson Svarlien earned her PhD in Classics at The University of Texas at Austin and lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

Robin Mitchell-Boyask is Professor of Classics, Temple University.

 

To view a complete listing of Hackett ancient Greek tragedies in translation, please click HERE.