We have forgotten "that agreement, age with age, we made to deck our wands, to dress in skins of fawn and crown our heads with ivy."

* * *

Oh Bacchae! Oh Bacchae!
Follow, glory of golden Tmolus
hymning Dionysus with a rumble of drums,
with the cry,
Euhoi! to the Euhoian God,
with the cries in Phrygian melodies,
when the holy pipe like honey plays
the sacred song for those who go
to the mountain!
to the mountain!

* * *

We do not trifle with divinity.
No, we are the heirs of customs and traditions hallowed by age and handed down to us by our fathers. No quibbling logic can topple them, whatever subtleties this clever age invents.
People may say "Aren't you ashamed? At your age, going dancing, wreathing your head with ivy?" Well, I am not ashamed. Did the gods declare that just the young or just the old should dance? No, he desires his honour from all mankind. He wants no one excluded from his worship.

Sadece Yunan tragedyasının değerli bir örneği değil, Dionysos mitinin de önemli belgelerinden biri olan Bakkhalar, tiyatroya ilham vermiş olması ile bile bir başyapıttır.

Okurken sıkılmazsınız, verdiği mesajla da küçümsemenin insanı nerelere götürebileceğini düşünürsünüz. Bu yüzden ölmeden okumalıyım diye bir listeniz varsa Bakkhalar bu listede olması gereken kitaplardan.

Mutlaka okuyun!

i've thoroughly enjoyed carson's antigonick, but i felt like the modernization didn't add much here - the postmodern witticisms of antigonick are largely replaced with direct 'telling', and so everything just sits kind of uneasily together, and the truly great parts (trans pentheus) don't come across with nearly as much force as they ought to

Dioniso è sicuramente per indole una delle divinità più divertenti del panteon greco: risulta simpatico per il suo desiderio di distruggere tutto, di punire coloro che lo oltraggiano... ma sempre con un pizzico di follia e qualche goccia di vino. Oltre al modo di fare fanciullesco della divinità, poco spicca di questa tragedia, per quel che mi riguarda una di quelle meno entusiasmanti di Euripide.

Euripides'in anlattığı olayın şiirselliğine kendi kaptırarak anlatmak istediğini aslında tam anlatamadığı bir eser olan "The Bacchae / Bakkhalar", erkekle kadınlığın birleştiği şarap tanrısı Zeus'un oğlu Dionysos'un ona tapınmayı reddeden Thebai kralı Petheus'tan aldığı intikamını konu alıyor. Euripides'in aslında insan gibi duygularıyla hareket eden Tanrıları eleştirdiği oyunda Dionysos'un zamanla farklılaşarak İsa'ya dönüştüğünü söyleyebiliriz. Söyleyemesek bile aralarında fazlasıyla benzerlik olduğu ortada. Zaman zaman eksik metne rağmen başarılı bir şekilde yazılmış ve çevrilmiş eser, mitolojik evrenin sınırlarını daha da genişletiyor.

18.08.2014
İstanbul, Türkiye

Alp Turgut

http://www.filmdoktoru.com/kitap-labo...

آیا در سرود جشن‌های شبانه خواهم توانست پاهای برهنه‌ی خود را همراه کاهنه‌های باکوس بجنبانم؟
«دستانِ همه سراسر خون‌آلود است و گوشتِ تن پنتئوس را چون گوی به سوی هم می‌اندازند. اندام‌های او این‌جا و آن‌جا می‌افتد. پاره‌ایی بر صخره‌های تیز و پاره‌ای بر انبوهِ سوزن‌گون کاج‌های جنگل.»
آه آگاوه، تو چه شوربختی.

This is the greatest Greek play I have read. I am just speechless. The way Euripides crafted this play was just...no words can give it justice. The rising intensity, the characters, the writing. I'll leave the rest of my thoughts for my actual review but...wow. Just wow.

Another top tier play by my main man Euripides. Dionysus is such a riot I love him. Much like with Medea would love love love to see this performed live. Can’t believe it’s taken me this long to realise how class the Ancient Greek plays are omg. Phenomenal stuff.

The main idea is communal intoxication and insanity through ritualistic practice. But I don't think Euripides' language or portrayal of violent scenery conveys the sense very strongly.

I had low expectations, but that was freaking bonkers and I loved it. Dionysus>>>

It seems that after my constant bickering about the soap-opera qualities of almost every Greek tragedy, the Bacchae would be exactly the same. Actually, I was shocked to find most (if not all) of the conventional, recycled themes in each Greek tragedy not here. It was actually one of the best plays I've ever read.

If you've ever watched True Blood and enjoyed the Maryann storyline, this play is basically the same premise. Dionysus comes to town, wreaks havoc on everything, and then dances merrily away down the road. He's easily the most fascinating character to come out of Greek literature because, I mean, what isn't cool about a guy who has a group of women out in the woods who are so entranced they take animals and/or people and eat them raw after tearing them apart limb-from-limb?

I read the Arrowsmith translation of this play and thought it was very well done. I found myself seeing that, once something's translated, it tends to lose some of its dramatic qualities, but this isn't the case with the Bacchae. Everything is presented very well, with Agave's epiphany of what she's done at the end being one of my favorite scenes in a play ever.

Overall, it was just great. (◡‿◡✿)

Euripides & Anne Carson. Exquisite!