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spacestationtrustfund 's review for:
An Oresteia
by Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles
This review is of the translation by Anne Carson.
Dr. Anne Carson's interpretation—and it is, indeed, more of an interpretation than a translation—continues to be one of my favourite interpretations of the Oresteia, despite its polarising position amongst translators. If you're looking for an English version that stays true to the original text, then this is not the way to go; if, however, you want an accessible, humourous, and lively adaptation that makes clear how much respect and love the Dr. Carson has put into her work, then I'd recommend this unequivocally. Elektra, Kassandra, and Clytemnestre are particularly incredible in Dr. Carson's interpretations of them.
I also have a lot of admiration for the way she adapted the "untranslatable" noises of the play(s), such as when Kassandra screams "OIMOI," for example, which has been historically rendered as a stage direction, i.e., "[scream]" or "[she screams]," etc.
Virginia Woolf, in her essay on Sophocles's Elektra in The Common Reader, wrote that:
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Here are three of the most iconic lines from the Oresteia: one from each play, first in Dr. Carson's English translation, then in the original Ancient Greek, then a word-for-word English translation (and my translation).
ἐκδιδάσκω teach thoroughly
κῆδος can mean "care for others," "troubles" (pl.), "care for the dead" (mourning), or "an object of care"
νοσέω sick, suffering, insane
ψαύω touch (lightly, gently)
κατέχω hold fast/back, inhibit
τε ... καὶ (untranslatable)
ἐπέλπομαι to have hopes of, to hope that
Dr. Anne Carson's interpretation—and it is, indeed, more of an interpretation than a translation—continues to be one of my favourite interpretations of the Oresteia, despite its polarising position amongst translators. If you're looking for an English version that stays true to the original text, then this is not the way to go; if, however, you want an accessible, humourous, and lively adaptation that makes clear how much respect and love the Dr. Carson has put into her work, then I'd recommend this unequivocally. Elektra, Kassandra, and Clytemnestre are particularly incredible in Dr. Carson's interpretations of them.
I also have a lot of admiration for the way she adapted the "untranslatable" noises of the play(s), such as when Kassandra screams "OIMOI," for example, which has been historically rendered as a stage direction, i.e., "[scream]" or "[she screams]," etc.
Virginia Woolf, in her essay on Sophocles's Elektra in The Common Reader, wrote that:
Electra stands before us like a figure so tightly bound that she can only move an inch this way, an inch that. But each movement must tell to the utmost, or [...] she will be nothing but a dummy, tightly bound. Her words in crisis are, as a matter of fact, bare; mere cries of despair, joy, hate [...]. But it is not so easy to decide what it is that gives these cries of Electra in her anguish their power to cut and wound and excite.One of the problems of reading this text in translation is that we don't directly experience those "cries of [...] anguish"; often they have been translated as "alas," "woe is me," "ye gods," and suchlike. The conundrum of whether or not it is possible to read, understand, and appreciate a work in translation when you are not directly reading the words originally written but rather the translators' versions of those words is something Dr. Carson specifically addresses in her foreward, saying that:
[...] the presence in Greek drama of bursts of sound expressing strong emotion (like OIMOI or O TALAINA or PHEU PHEU) furnishes the translator with a very simple and intractable problem. It has generally assumed that they represent a somewhat formulaic body of ejaculatory utterance best rendered into English by some dead phrase like Alas! or Woe is me! [...] it is not easy to decide what gives the screaming of Elektra its power. Sophocles has invented for her a language of lament that is like listening to an X-ray. Elektra's cries are just bones of sound.In contrast to the methods of previous translations, Dr. Carson renders these cries in phonetic representations of Elektra's vocalisations:
AIAIand so on; all of which are, consequently, entirely alien to an English speaker. And Elektra is not alone in her untranslatable lamentations; Antigone cries out similarly:
EE IO
IO GONAI
IO MOI MOI
OIMOI MOI
TALAINA
PHEU PHEU
OIMOI TALAINA
OTOTOTOTOTOI TO TOI
IO MOI MOI DYSTENOS
"Oimoi katauda," Antigone screams —"Shout it to the skies!"—when Ismene urges her to keep her plan secret. That "oimoi," a cry of pain both mocking and sincere, gives vivid insight into Antigone's state of mind; lines like this are the best argument one can find for learning Greek. It's untranslatable, yet translate we must. Our textbook offers either "alas" or "woe is me," and there's little to choose between the two. The sarcasm of "katauda"—"shout it out"—is lost without a better sense of "oimoi" [...]. — James RommIn a sense translation is similar to the law of input and output. The end result will always be lesser than the original, but that doesn't mean something productive and valuable can't be gained from the process itself.
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Here are three of the most iconic lines from the Oresteia: one from each play, first in Dr. Carson's English translation, then in the original Ancient Greek, then a word-for-word English translation (and my translation).
1. Agamemnon, AiskhylosOtherwise my heart would race past my
tongue to pour out everything.
Instead I mumble,
I gnaw myself.
I lose hope.
And my mind is burning. [1033]
εἶργε μὴ πλέον φέρειν,
προφθάσασα καρδία
γλῶσσαν ἂν τάδ᾽ ἐξέχει.
νῦν δ᾽ ὑπὸ σκ ότῳ βρέμει
θυμαλγής τε καὶ οὐδὲν ἐπελπομέν-
α ποτὲ καίριον ἐκτολυπεύσειν
ζωπυρουμένας φρενός.
outrun / heart
tongue / if / this / stand out
now / but / under / darkness / roar
heart-grieving / both / and / not one / have hopes of
<- / at some time / in / wind off, bring to an end
light on fire / heart, mind
my heart would outrun
that which my tongue speaks
but now, in the dark, roars
that distressing grieving, not having hope of
ever bringing this to an end
and my heart ignites.
2. Elektra, SophoklesI am the shape you made me.
Filth teaches filth. [837]
αἰσχροῖς γὰρ αἰσχρὰ πράγματ᾽ ἐκδιδάσκεται.
shameful / for, since / shameful / acts, affairs, doings / teach
for shameful acts teach other shameful acts
3. Orestes, EuripidesPYLADES: I'll take care of you.
ORESTES: It's rotten work.
PYLADES: Not to me. Not if it's you.
ΠΥΛΆΔΗΣ: ἀλλὰ κηδεύσω σ᾽ ἐγώ.
ὈΡΈΣΤΗΣ: δυσχερὲς ψαύειν νοσοῦντος ἀνδρός.
ΠΥΛΆΔΗΣ: οὐκ ἔμοιγε σοῦ.
PYLADES: but / care for / you / I
ORESTES: difficult / touch / sick / man
PYLADES: not / (to) me / you
Notes:PYLADES: But I'll care for you.
ORESTES: It's difficult to touch a sick man.
PYLADES: Not to me, if it's you.
ἐκδιδάσκω teach thoroughly
κῆδος can mean "care for others," "troubles" (pl.), "care for the dead" (mourning), or "an object of care"
νοσέω sick, suffering, insane
ψαύω touch (lightly, gently)
κατέχω hold fast/back, inhibit
τε ... καὶ (untranslatable)
ἐπέλπομαι to have hopes of, to hope that