By H. R. Jolliffe

Description

Tales from the Greek Drama provides an excellent introduction to ten of the best known works of Greek drama. The book includes compelling renditions of Medea, Alcestis, Oedipus the King, Iphigenia at Aulis, Oedipus at Colonus, Agamemnon, Antigone, Electra, and Hippolytus

Combining the scholar's knowledge of Greek drama and the journalist's talent for dramatic accounts, Jolliffe's retelling of the monumental Greek tragedies allows the general reader to experience the theatrical, emotional and literary impact of some of the ancient world's finest playwrights: Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles. Designed to provide an encounter with, rather than a study of Greek drama, this prose presentation removes the impediments of unfamiliar grammar and syntax, context and genre. The result is a whetting of the appetite and the building of a firm foundation for a more sophisticated later reading of these works. Tales from the Greek Drama has been translated into Japanese and is currently in its 2nd printing in Japan.

Special Features

• a brief introduction focusing on the literary context
• 10 plays in a dramatic, comprehensible prose format: Medea, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, Hippolytus, Alcestis, Ajax, Iphigenia in Aulis, Agamemnon, and Electra
• an appendix on the theater of the Greeks

Comments and Reviews

Joliffe's prose is easy reading and offers a good short course in "instant Greek drama." In fact, if he'd given me this book back in the days when he taught my Greek drama course at Ohio University, I'd have been a lot better off. At that time, it was all Greek to me.

—Dick Campbell
The Cleveland Press

...[Joliffe] combines the scholar's knowledge of the Greek dramatists, the plays and the language with the ability to write direct, spare, yet moving English prose. For those of us who have had little Latin, less Greek and an almost invincible ignorance of Greek mythology, he has provided a valuable crutch and inspiration.

—William McCann
The State Journal