Aristophanes 1: Clouds, Wasps, Birds

Originally adapted for the stage, Peter Meineck’s revised translations achieve a level of fidelity appropriate for classroom use while managing to preserve the wit and energy that led The New Yorker to judge his Clouds “The best Greek drama we’ve ever seen anywhere,” and The Times Literary Supplement to describe his Wasps as “Hugely enjoyable and very, very funny.” A general Introduction, introductions to the plays, and detailed notes on staging, history, religious practice and myth combine to make this a remarkably useful teaching text.

SKU
17429g

Aristophanes
Translated, with Notes, by Peter Meineck
Introduction by Ian C. Storey

1998 - 480 pp.

Grouped product items
Format ISBN Price Qty
Cloth 978-0-87220-361-7
$39.00
Paper 978-0-87220-360-0
$16.00
Instructor Examination (Review) Copy 978-0-87220-360-0
$3.00

eBook available for $12.95. Click HERE for more information.

Originally adapted for the stage, Peter Meineck’s revised translations achieve a level of fidelity appropriate for classroom use while managing to preserve the wit and energy that led The New Yorker to judge his Clouds “The best Greek drama we’ve ever seen anywhere,” and The Times Literary Supplement to describe his Wasps as “Hugely enjoyable and very, very funny.” A general Introduction, introductions to the plays, and detailed notes on staging, history, religious practice and myth combine to make this a remarkably useful teaching text.

 

Reviews:

“Storey’s contributions are solid, and conduct the beginner clearly and logically through the various minefields of Aristophanic scholarship, without oversimplification. . . . The particular virtue of Meineck lies in the fact that he is a theatre director who has worked with these texts in an attempt to realize them for modern audiences. . . . His aim of producing translations ‘that are understandable, performable, accessible, and entertaining’ has clearly been fulfilled.”
     —Keith Sidwell, Classical Review

 ". . . lively and entertaining. It conveys the astonishing vigor of the original Greek, while keeping close to the text. The notes would be useful in the classroom.”
     —Margaret E. Reesor, Queen’s University

 “I was glad, earlier, when Meineck’s players showed us that Aristophanes could still bring down the house . . . . Faithful to the Greek, yet playable on the modern stage, these translations of Clouds, Wasps, and Birds once again bring the healing laughter of Athenian old comedy to a busy and anxious world.”
     —Kenneth J. Reckford, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

 "I used Meineck’s Aristophanes this semester for the first time and it was a tremendous success. The students found it very readable and funny. Meineck’s Aristophanes is the best and indeed only translation of Clouds and Birds that I would use now.”
     —Wilfred E. Major, Loyola University, New Orleans

 

About the Author:

Peter Meineck is Associate Professor of Classics at New York University, where he holds the endowed chair in Classics in the Modern World. He is the founder of Aquila Theatre.