I am unwell...

Anne Carson's introductions to each play are perspicacious without presuming to possess all the answers or explanations of the original texts. In fact, the introductions elicit further questions and guide the reader into a deeper critical examination of the texts and of the human nature explored therein.
The translation itself has something of Carson's "voice", which, for me, makes it all that much more appealing. This is a definite read for anyone interested in ancient Greek thought. The concluding short essay by Euripides, "Why I Wrote Two Plays About Phaidra", was stunning.

i’ve read bits from this so many times but rereading herakles today i realized i’ve never logged it oops. some of carson’s best work, she just gets it !! forever obsessed with her writing on the plays as well - ‘why does tragedy exist? because you are full of rage. why are you full of rage? because you are full of grief’ you will always be famous!!!!!

i love anne carson ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I really enjoyed these translations. I had already read 2 of the plays in another edition, translated by a different translator, and I found them to be much more readable (and enjoyable) in this version. The plays themselves were also enjoyable to read, although I'm finding a lot of Euripides' work to be forgettable compared to Aeschylus and Sophocles. Curious to see if that holds true over time.

I do wish that the introduction and prefaces to each play gave more context, especially for Alkestis. Instead, they tend to be a place for the translator to discuss the theme of grief, among other things. This totally makes sense given the translator's intention in compiling these together, but as a new reader to Euripides, it would have been nice to have more context. Luckily that's what Wikipedia is for. XD

“Why does tragedy exist? Because you are full of rage. Why are you full of rage? Because you are full of grief.”

These lines from Anne Carson start the book, and set the stage for what is to come.

I really loved this book. Anne Carson’s translation and prefaces to each of the four plays provided so much context, making them so relevant to me and my own experience. In many ways, this book was healing for me.



Funny enough, this wasn’t the Anne Carson Euripides translation I was looking for initially, so I’ve now found the one I had intended (Orestes) and added it to me to-read list.

Translations by Anne Carson that sing with the voice of a modern poet but seem to reach back to the original real meaning. The Alcestis play deserves a lot of attention, a perfect plot, great dialogue, a demonstration of the role of hospitality so central to the Greek ethos and how it is wrapped up into the basic energy of life and death. Important to remember that the background myth before the story of the play begins was how Admetos won the right to cheat death because of his hospitality to the disguised Apollo. He is then redeemed by Euripides for exchanging his heroic, magnificent wife Alcestis because of his hospitality to Herakles who pulls off a startling reversal. I hadn't thought also before now how the Euripides play must have been linked by Shakespeare in Much Ado About Nothing.

I really really enjoyed reading these. I’ve been on a big ~ refreshing my memory of ancient greek tales ~ journey and reading plays for the first time. The Anne Carson translations and prologues and notes are a delight, she gives just the right amount of context to really give you the juice!!! Some of these are dramatic page turners, some of them are jaw droppers, the last one made me laugh out loud a lot, what fun!

Final essay “Why I Wrote Two Plays About Phaidra” so good.

these were shorter plays than i'm used to which was both surprising and refreshing. carson's introductions were insightful and bumped this book up to five stars for me personally. her translation was both beautiful and easy to understand yet still left room for thought and analysis. much love and i'm glad i finally read this

Anne Carson is amazing as always at translating Ancient Greek.

anne carson's genius never fails to impress me and fuel me and inspire me-- i must have saved like 20 quotes reading this and have come up with at least 2 essay ideas, her writing is everything i want classics to be and any non-classicist should start with her as an entry-point, she grounds these stories in things that we feel like nothing else- here, her primary exploration is grief, but as is always in the background, she really takes apart women and eros, euripides is such a good figure through which to do that because of the way he plays with the female voice. this felt like reclaiming euripides in a way, it felt powerful.