Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by peachtealeaves
An Oresteia by Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles
4.0
After seeing quotes from this translation alllll over tumblr (and being a lover of Greek tragedy in general) I have finally read Anne Carson’s An Oresteia! Let’s chat about it.
The Good
- Concept: I really like the concept behind this collection. The idea of seeing the same story being told by different writers throughout Greek history was really interesting to me and I think this book pulled it off well. If you’re interested in how classic Greek plays have changed over time I think you would really enjoy this!
- Translation: Anne Carson is a full-fledged genius and this translation really shows that. She does an excellent job of bringing these old, high-drama plays down to earth without sacrificing gorgeous, lush writing. There are so many lines that stood out and made me want to get them tattooed on my eyelids so that I could see them forever.
- Agamemnon and Elektra: I don’t want to go into too much detail here for spoilery reasons by I really loved these first two plays! From the plot to the themes to the writing I found them genuinely engaging and highly recommend them to anyone interested. I got very Macbeth-y vibes from them as well, and given that that is my favorite Shakespeare play, I was very pleased by that!
The Bad
- Orestes: While I found the first two plays in this collection to be extremely engaging and cohesive, despite their different authors, I found that Euripides’ play fell flat to me. The beginning section in particular felt really goofy, with different character’s dialog rhyming with one another even in serious scenes. There are also several scenes added for comic relief, which I personally didn’t like as I prefer tragedies to be more serious in tone. The writing style also didn’t quite match up with the first two plays, which was a disappointment after how cohesive the others felt. It made the collection feel less coherent than it had in the beginning. This is all personal opinion, after all far be it from me to claim a classic work like Orestes is “bad.” I just wanted to note why this collection wasn’t a full five star.
Overall, tumblr was right, An Oresteia is a very beautiful collection of plays! If you’ve seen any of those incredibly popular screencaps of this work and were interested, I highly recommend picking this one up! I know I’ll definitely be reading more Anne Carson after this, her work really impressed me!
The Good
- Concept: I really like the concept behind this collection. The idea of seeing the same story being told by different writers throughout Greek history was really interesting to me and I think this book pulled it off well. If you’re interested in how classic Greek plays have changed over time I think you would really enjoy this!
- Translation: Anne Carson is a full-fledged genius and this translation really shows that. She does an excellent job of bringing these old, high-drama plays down to earth without sacrificing gorgeous, lush writing. There are so many lines that stood out and made me want to get them tattooed on my eyelids so that I could see them forever.
- Agamemnon and Elektra: I don’t want to go into too much detail here for spoilery reasons by I really loved these first two plays! From the plot to the themes to the writing I found them genuinely engaging and highly recommend them to anyone interested. I got very Macbeth-y vibes from them as well, and given that that is my favorite Shakespeare play, I was very pleased by that!
The Bad
- Orestes: While I found the first two plays in this collection to be extremely engaging and cohesive, despite their different authors, I found that Euripides’ play fell flat to me. The beginning section in particular felt really goofy, with different character’s dialog rhyming with one another even in serious scenes. There are also several scenes added for comic relief, which I personally didn’t like as I prefer tragedies to be more serious in tone. The writing style also didn’t quite match up with the first two plays, which was a disappointment after how cohesive the others felt. It made the collection feel less coherent than it had in the beginning. This is all personal opinion, after all far be it from me to claim a classic work like Orestes is “bad.” I just wanted to note why this collection wasn’t a full five star.
Overall, tumblr was right, An Oresteia is a very beautiful collection of plays! If you’ve seen any of those incredibly popular screencaps of this work and were interested, I highly recommend picking this one up! I know I’ll definitely be reading more Anne Carson after this, her work really impressed me!