Complete Plays of Aristophanes (Bantam Classics) | Aristophanes

Complete Plays of Aristophanes (Bantam Classics) | Aristophanes | Bowdlerized Aristophanes!

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Complete Plays of ...

	Complete Plays of Aristophanes (Bantam Classics) Aristophanes Bantam Classics, 1984 - 592 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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A poet who hated an age of decadence, armed conflict, and departure from tradition, Aristophanes' comic genius influenced the political and social order of his own fifth-century Athens. But as Moses Hadas writes in his introduction to this volume, 'His true claim upon our attention is as the most brilliant and artistic and thoughtful wit our world has known.' Includes The Acharnians, The Birds, The Clouds, Ecclesiazusae, The Frogs, The Knights, Lysistrata, Peace, Plutus, Thesmophoriazusae, and The Wasps.

Too Much Liberty in Paraphrasing

I agree with the previous review on "Baudlerizing". Not only is the translation edited for sexual content but translating greek currencies (likely drachmae) into dollars, translating references to women's robes into "silk" -- probably unknown in ancient Greece, etc., makes this book less useful for people like myself who cannot read the ancient Greek, but are researching the historical period. The book retains much of Aristophanes humor and is, fairly much, kid-safe for those parents who are concerned about a child precocious enough to read Aristophanes being corrupted by an accurate translation.

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Bowdlerized Aristophanes!

I can accept some stilted language; after all, some of these translations are about a century old. I can accept the lack of notes. But I can not accept translations of Aristophanes that cut some of his funniest scenes!

For instance, in the translation of Thesmophoriazusae, the unmasking of Mnesilochus (line 600 and after) is gutted. Lines 610-617 are gone (Mnesilochus' urination excuse), but more importantly, the whole climax of the scene -- the hilarious physical comedy where he tries to maintain his female disguise (lines 643-649) -- is nowhere to be seen.

It's hard to imagine that an editor would allow 19th century prudery to ruin a 20th century edition of Aristophanes, but there you are.

Despite the cheap price, this book is no bargain. Spring for the more expensive (if a bit less literal) Penguin versions.

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reviews: page 1, 2

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