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super_jane19's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
telltaletasha's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
jade_courtney's review
4.0
I didn't know the story of any of these before reading them, which definitely made for an exciting experience. It was also my first prose translation which unfortunately slowed my reading of this down, sometimes to the point where I grew frustrated - although I'm aware this is a more likely a problem with me than the text, it still affected my overall experience.
If I try to remain objective however, these are amazing works. I especially love his characterisation and the voice he often gives his female characters, often so lacking in works from this time. More specifically, I think Ion is my favourite, with Suppliant Women coming second (I loved the debate of politics).
If I try to remain objective however, these are amazing works. I especially love his characterisation and the voice he often gives his female characters, often so lacking in works from this time. More specifically, I think Ion is my favourite, with Suppliant Women coming second (I loved the debate of politics).
sebseb's review against another edition
5.0
Philip Vellacott's introduction whisks you back to the politicised passion of 1972, and reads as quaintly (sometimes eye-rollingly) opinionated by today's standards. I frequently found myself unpersuaded by his elitist and totalizing framework (the people who GET Euripedes versus the unschooled masses and critics whom he disagreed with) and also his assertions that the characters know much more of the plot than they seem to and so have various ulterior motives that invariably make them more cynical than they appear on the page/stage. That said Vellacott offers plural readings of characters and situations, so even if he insists only one of these is "correct" he does his readers the service of providing historical knowledge and interpretations that allow us to form our own disagreements with him. "Here are the tools you'll need to challenge me" - the mark of a great teacher.
As a series of plays tracing the evolution of Euripedes's anti-war thought, together the works reveal an interesting progression which makes them valuable as a set, although I didn't read them quite in order. Really wonderful. The notes are sometimes useful but only numbering one line a page made it really hard to track down lines referred to, which interrupted the reading experience considerably.
Vellacott: "A play can be both a tract and a tragedy, and everyone who goes to a theatre has the right to say what he finds there." <3
As a series of plays tracing the evolution of Euripedes's anti-war thought, together the works reveal an interesting progression which makes them valuable as a set, although I didn't read them quite in order. Really wonderful. The notes are sometimes useful but only numbering one line a page made it really hard to track down lines referred to, which interrupted the reading experience considerably.
Vellacott: "A play can be both a tract and a tragedy, and everyone who goes to a theatre has the right to say what he finds there." <3
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