Il più cartesiano tra i tragici greci.

نمایشِ آنتی‌گون و بخش‌های پراکنده‌ای از دو نمایشِ دیگه رو از ترجمه‌های فارسی هم خوندم و باید بگم که بیشتر از متن انگلیسی،ازشون خوشم اومد
هم به‌خاطر نثرِ تقریبا کهنی که داشت و هم متنِ انگلیسی یک جورهایی فاقدِ «لحن» بود. نثرش متعلق به قرن بیستم بود انگار

بریده :

تو را دوبار معذب ساخته‌اند. یک‌بار در تن و یک‌بار در جان، کاش اصلا به وجود نیامده بودی که این معما را بخوانی
تو را عقیده هرچه هست،باشد اما به گمان من، سعادت آدمی در آن است که اصلا در این جهان نباشد و چون به ناچار، زندگی انسان در این عالم آغاز می‌شود، پس هرچه زودتر به فرجام رسد،بهتر است و راهی که به سرمنزل مقصود می‌رسد، هرچه سریع‌تر پیموده شود، طی آن آسان‌تر باشد

...
چیست که با عشق برابری تواند کرد؟ یا کیست که در جنگ با او مقهور نشود؟ کدام قدرت است که زور عشق بر او نچربد؟ در اقطار بعیده‌ی این جهان و در عرصه‌ی پهناور دریاها، عشق حاضر و موجود است. در عارض شکفته‌ی دختری که به انتظار محبوب خود نشسته‌است، آیات عشق خوانده می‌شود. جنونِ عشق گریبان‌گیرِ خدایان و آدمیان هردو می‌شود

Ogni parola è superflua. Non bastano stelle.

*Note: I only read Oedipus Rex and Antigone, not Oedipus at Colonus.

There is literally nothing I could tell you about these plays that you don't already know from the thousands of books and movies that have referenced or been influenced by Oedipus ever since it was first performed. Four stars for overall story and dramatic themes, two stars because I didn't find it a very engaging or enjoyable read, averaged out to a nice three. Five stars for literary importance, though.

The self-fulfilling prophecy is one of my favourite plot devices, and Oedipus delivers a shockingly good one (and it's more than the fact that he bangs his mum, for those of you who haven't read it). Very complex and interesting. I also love the theme of destiny and free will (which are also explored further in Antigone).

Damn, did those Greeks love to torture their heroes.

'Take these things to heart, my son, I warn you.
All men make mistakes, it is only human.
But once the wrong is done, a man
can turn his back on folly, misfortune too,
if he tries to make amends, however low he’s fallen,
and stops his bullnecked ways. Stubbornness
brands you for stupidity – pride is a crime.
No, yield to the dead!
Never stab the fighter when he’s down.
Where’s the glory, killing the dead twice over?”
(Tiresias, the blind prophet, to Creon, king of Thebes, uncle of Antigone in ‘Antigone’ )

Three very good decisions led me to finally read the Penguin Classic Edition of Sophocles’ three Theban plays: First and foremost, I have eventually decided a few month ago to take a course in Classical Mythology. This has always been my wish, but as with so many things in life it had been postponed for years. The course did not open Pandora’s box, it has instead enhanced my understanding of literature and art in general and given me new insights of how Classical mythology is part of our cultural legacy. Amongst others we had to read Sophocles’ ‘Oedipus the King’. I knew, somewhere in my house I would find a battered, yellow Reclam edition in German: This work by Sophocles is a set book for almost every high school student here in Zurich. On the spur of a moment I decided, however, to read not only this well-known play, but to add the two other Theban Plays: ‘Antigone’ and ‘Oedipus at Colonus’. This was my second good decision. My third brave decision was to read these plays in an English translation instead of a German one, mostly because I could not find any decent new translation into German. This is how I came into the possession of a brand new copy of the Penguin Classic Edition, translated by Robert Fagles (Professor of Comparative Literature, Emeritus, at Princeton University) with introductions and notes by Bernard Knox (Director Emeritus of Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington). As so often with Penguin Classics editions, I fell instantly in love with the cover, depicting Gustave Doré’s ‘The Enigma’ (Musée d’Orsay, Paris):



I cannot praise highly enough this edition and its translation. The beautiful and simple language is easy to understand even for non-native English speakers; the accompanying notes are clear and require only a basic knowledge of Greek mythology. They help to enjoy even more the compelling writing and subtle irony of the plays.

If you have read ‘Oedipus the King’ years ago and are now ready to revisit this work, give it a try and read all three Theban plays by Sophocles. They consist of ‘Antigone’ (written ca. 442 B.C.), ‘Oedipus the King’ (ca. 430 B.C.) and ‘Oedipus at Colonus’ (produced after Sophocles death in 401 B.C.). Besides the beautifully structured ‘Oedipus the King’ the two other Theban plays about the idealistic Antigone and Oedipus in exile are no less captivating and have not lost their attractiveness. As all Greek dramas, Sophocles’ tragedies are based on myths that have been passed on orally. Bernard Knox explains:

“The stuff from which the tragic poet made his plays was not contemporary reality but myth. And yet it did reflect contemporary reality, did so perhaps in terms more authoritative because they were not colored by the partisan emotions of the time, terms which were in fact so authorative that they remain meaningful even for us today.”(p.22)

One of the best examples that these stories have the same powerful meaning as 2400 years ago is the quote mentioned at the beginning of this review by Tiresias to Creon.

Nevertheless, I am aware that the modern reader of today has another approach to these works than the Athenian male viewer had (women apparently were rarely admitted to the spectacles). During my course I read several plays not only by Sophocles but also by Aeschylus and Euripides. Even though I love Greek Mythology and I am very much attracted to the Classical Antiquity, it has often been difficult for me to digest the misogyny of Classical cultures. Greek men do not seem to have been very comfortable around women. In several myths women are depicted as malicious, monstrous or even eerie. Monsters are often female. It seems that Antigone is a rare exception. Her integrity and humanity, which Sophocles describes so masterfully, makes her sympathetic to the modern reader. Oedipus might have been the hero of the male Athenian viewer (*), but I think Oedipus’ daughter Antigone is my personal hero of the stories. Let me thus conclude with a quote by Bernard Knox about my favourite character in the plays:

“…her courage and steadfastness are a gleam of light; she is the embodiment of the only consolation tragedy can offer – that in certain heroic natures unmerited suffering and death can be met with a greatness of soul which, because it is purely human, brings honor to us all.” (p.53)

(*)Heroes in Greek mythology were not basically good or moral persons; they could be quite the opposite. A hero could have a divine parent or being extraordinary in some other ways, he did not have to be a good man.

بهش ۴ ستاره دادم چون خیلی عالی بود سه تا نمایشنامه عالی مقدمه ی خیلی خوب و موخره ی فوقالعاده . نثرشم خیلی دوست داشتنی بود

I was rather flippant about Greek drama throughout my time at university (much to the chagrin of every single professor teaching the unit), but even I had to concede to the immense talent of Sophocles: to cast a myth like Oedipus' on stage with such eloquence, and without leaning on its sensationalism, is inconceivable elsewhere in the theatrical tradition—unsurprising, then, that his Theban Plays have today become authoritative sources, rather than mere tellings, of the fate of the House of Cadmus.

In his acclaimed and unerringly beautiful translation, Robert Fagles reclaims for the three plays—Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus, arranged in order of composition rather than narrative chronology—a sense of crisp, lucid triumph, revealing their timelessness while also honouring the relevance of their politics for the Athenian audiences they were originally intended for. Despite being about a hundred generations too late a witness, I found myself completely immersed within the pages of these ancient tragedies.

Antigone (c. 441 BCE)

Antigone au chevet de Polynices by Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant (1868)

My favourite of the three, Antigone is a work of astounding depth— masterful tragedy dealing with familial love, treachery, and morality in the face of despotic rule. Rebellion, too, is an important theme, be it Antigone's breaking the ruler's decree or Haemon opposing his own father. The protagonist's heroic temper, her defiance of authority, and her willingness to give up life and love in order to fulfill her moral duty has led to many interpreting this as a feminist play.

But beyond that, Antigone is also a complex exploration of our notions of 'right' and 'wrong'. Sophocles does not see his characters' actions as purely black and white: we get a glimpse of the true motivations governing Creon's degree as well as Antigone's transgression, and while we are explicitly told that Creon was wrong and see him suffer, it is only for his proud renunciation of divine power and familial ties—neither the Chorus nor Sophocles himself seem to find fault with his statecraft. Meanwhile, no affirmation of Antigone's rightness is ever made. However, unlike Creon, she does not betray the loyalties she spoke for, and dies believing in the rightness of her actions even if others do not seem to.

While her death is part of the curse against the House of Cadmus—the same prophecy that led to the ruin of her father, Oedipus, and drove her brothers Etiocles and Polynices to kill each other—it is also an act of heroism, of upholding the laws of divinity and nature and standing up against the barbaric. Thus, Antigone explores the ideas of predestination and agency in tandem with each other, a concern dominant in Greek drama in general and the Theban plays in particular.

Oedipus the King (c. 430-426 BCE)

Blind Oedipus Commending his Children by Bénigne Gagneraux (1784)

Perhaps the most prominent exploration of fate and free will in Sophoclean tragedy takes place in Oedipus the King: while he is destined to commit the acts of patricide and incest that we know him for, it is through his own determined, willful pursuit that this terrible truth comes to light and becomes known. Most importantly, however, the play illustrates divine indictment against the hubris of Oedipus and Jocasta, who believe that they can subvert the prophecy through their actions. That this play is focused on the discovery of Oedipus's sins rather than the sins themselves serves to highlight this latter aspect of the story (this, according to Bernard Knox, is rooted in contemporary politics; Sophocles wrote this play asserting the superiority of divine will at a time when the institution of the Oracle—and thereby the validity of the gods themselves—was under public fire).

While this notion of predestination in the original myth was transformed and appropriated by the Freudian lens in the early 20th century; Oedipus the King transformed modern drama by presenting an existential model for stories dealing with our own terror of the unknown, uncontrollable future and the idea that our progress; Like Oedipus' success; will unwittingly bring us to our doom. All of this, moreover, allows Sophocles to master the art of dramatic irony, which is in many ways the lifeblood of this play.

It is no wonder that Oedipus the King has long been considered the most distinguished of all Greek tragedy—enough can never be said about a play like this, one so deeply rooted in our exploration of the complexities of art, society, and the human condition.

Oedipus at Colonus (c. 406 BCE)

Oedipus at Colonus by Jean-Antoine-Théodore Giroust (1788)

Written at the age of 90, Oedipus at Colonus was Sophocles' last play, hyperaware of the spectre of impending war and destruction loomed over Athens at the time. It has the least mythical precedent of all Theban plays, and is the tragedian's valedictory reminder of the glory, benevolence, and fame of Athens. This is also the play where Oedipus, whose terrible ruin is part of a divine curse on his bloodline, is finally redeemed, by yet another prophecy: in his death, Oedipus is raised from mortal to hero, he is also able to avenge the wrongs committed unto him by his sons Etiocles and Polynices and his other kinsmen in Thebes.

Here, Oedipus expresses his helplessness as an instrument of fate, and thereby achieves glory: although he is still polluted, he is extricated of blame and dies a painless death. His grave, as per the redemptive prophecy, becomes the site of a war bringing doom to Thebes; that has wronged him; and Victory to Athens, whose ruler, the noble Theseus, saves him (it is through Theseus that Sophocles affirms the spirit of Athens at its peak). This is also a far more mystical play than its predecessors, dealing with furies and rituals, but this only enhances the effect of the hero being lifted to a position that is more than human—reverential, and almost holy.

While Oedipus at Colonus is only the second play concerning the House of Cadmus in Thebes if a narrative chronology is considered, its thematic concerns render it the perfect end to Sophocles' Theban triad. While fate has mark Oedipus with tragedy, and the end of his bloodline is known, this play manages to inject in this sagas a communion with the gods, and thus, a note of hope.

عدة قراءات متأخرة لتعويض العمر اللي فات.

7th book of 2022.

As I'm moving around the (personally) uncharted land of Greek tragedies, I get to Sophocles. I think most people know the story of Oedipus, or can at least guess with general Freud knowledge, but the subsequent two plays in the 'Cycle' were unknown to me plot-wise. Oedipus the King/Oedipus Rex/Oedipus Tyrannus is the first and famous story from Sophocles, where a man attempts to flee the prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Spoiler alert: he does not outrun it. The following play presents us with a now blinded Oedipus (he blinds himself in the first) with his daughter Antigone (what a call name), in an open landscape, waiting. It's quite clear that Waiting for Godot is a product of this play. It's the weakest of the three despite the Beckett vibes. Theseus shows up and is benevolent to the blind ex-king, but also some great action-hero dialogue [1]. The final play, moving through them without too many spoilers, shows us the lives of Oedipus' children after his death. As expected from a Greek Tragedy, a lot of people die. They are enjoyable reads and as far as my translation went, smooth ones too. What's interesting is seeing what vices were being portrayed in art this long ago that still ravish us today, and usually one can find quite a few. Here we question how much of our lives are predetermined, or even out of our control, by what comes before us, by the choices our parents make, before we have even been conceived. We do not choose where we are born, who we are born to. Our entire lives have to be carved from the position we find ourselves in.



n  

Our fires, our sacrifices, and our prayers
The gods abominate. How should the birds
Give any other than ill-omened voices,
Gorged with the dregs of blood that man has shed?
Mark this, my son : all men fall into sin.
But sinning, he is not for ever lost
Hapless and helpless, who can make amends
And has not set his face against repentance.
Only a fool is governed by self-will.

n
—Teiresias

__________________________________

[1] I make no boasts, but while my life is safe,
You need not fear for yours.

کارتاسیس


اگر میخواهید به تجویزِ پیرِ عالمِ فلسفه ارسطوی کبیر عناصر چهار گانه طبعتون( بلغم ، سودا ، صفرا و خون ) همیشه میزان باشه ، شبا قبل خواب مغزتون تراژدی میل کنه ؛ ترجیحا با شربت آبلیمو و بهمن کوچیک .
دوهزار و پونصد سال از عمر روایت کتبی این تراژدی میگذره چه بسا روایت شفاهی عمر دراز تری هم داشته باشه. اما چه جاذبه و جادویی باعث مصون موندن و از چشم نیفتادن پیکار تکراری خدایان و انسان میشه ؟ پیکاری که ماحصلش برای ما ساخت قهرمان تراژیکه.
به نظرم انسان بودن مهمترین رکن این جاودانگی باشه.
اینکه ما تو تیم انسانهاییم و با اینکه آگاه از تسلیم و شکست قهرمان تراژیک در برابر خواست و اراده تقدیر خدایانیم ولی این تلاش و به نوعی شکست قهرمانانه رو تحسین میکنیم . حسی شبیه هوادارای یک تیم دسته سومی که از شکست قطعی تیمش برابر حریف قدرتمند آگاهه ولی فارغ از نتیجه از ۹۰ دقیقه تلاش تیم نهایت لذت رو خواهد برد و موهبت کاتارسیس رو تجربه میکنه.


این سه گانه با شکوه علاوه بر انبوهی از فضایل نیک که از شمارش خارجه دو ویژگی منحصر بفرد نسبت به بقیه افسانه‌ها داره از نظر من ؛
اولیش این‌که توجهش به بُعد انسانی افسانه خیلی بیشتر از خدایانه . به نوعی سوفوکل یک قدم جلوتر رفته و به جای تمرکز روی نزاع و کشمکش بین انسان و خدایان ؛ بیشتر به عواقب و ماحصل این کشمکش بر سرشت قهرمان افسانه خودش پرداخته . به همین دلیل خواننده و یا شنونده بیشتر از اینکه شاهد یک پیکار باشه به عنوان شخص سوم ؛ مدام در حال همزاد پنداری عاطفی با چندین کاراکتر داستانه و یک چرخه مداوم از تقابلهای بدون قضاوت جلوش شکل میگیره که به تفکر راجع بهشون تشویقش میکنه .

تیرزیاس


در روایتی اومده یک روز که آتنا با یکی از پریان جنگل در رودخانه ای به شنا مشغول بود چوپان زیبا و جوانی به نام تیرزیاس برحسب تصادف از اونجا میگذشته و چشمش به اندام برهنه الهه میفته و تو این نگاه تعمد و تقصیری نداشته اما الهه چنان به خشم اومده که بلافاصله بنده خدارو از هر دو چشم کور میکنه . با اینکه یکی از پریان جنگل به نام کاریکلو که شاید فریفته زیبائی تیرزیاس شده بود شفاعتشو کرد و آتنا هم اعتراف کرد که طفل معصوم تقصیر نداشته اما آتنا حاضر نشد چشم هائی را که تونسته بود اندام برهنشو ببینه دوباره بینا کنه ؛ فقط تیرزیاس رو به جای بینایی از دست رفته از قدرت غیب گویی و پیش بینی برخوردار میکنه .

جایگاه شخصیت تیرزیاس بسیار بسیار تو کتاب حائز اهمیته و حس میکنم سوفوکل هر بار که اسمشو مینوشته به احترامش می‌ایستاده .
یک دانای کل که هیچ شک و تردیدی در کلامش روا نبود و سوفوکل به دو شکل متفاوت از تیرزیاس دانا بهره میبره .
اولین بار تقابلش با ادیپوس و دومیش با کرئون .
تقابل بین ادیپوس و تیرزیاس تبدیل به تقابل بین بینایی و نابینایی میشه. در یک سو ادیپوس بینا و اون طرف تیرزیاس نابینا. تقابل بینایی و نابینایی اون چیزیه که به وضوح تو نمایشنامه دیده میشه اما تفاوت‌هایی وجود داره .
تیرزیاس در مواجه با ادیپوس به صورت غیر مستقیم ادیپوس رو دارای خرد می‌دونه. با اینکه ادیپوس قادر به دیدن و شناخت این خرد نیست اما با بیان واقعیت های و تقدیری که بر ادیپ گذشته راه رو برای دستیابیش به حقیقت و خرد فراهم میسازه .
اما در مواجه با کرئون به طور اون رو بی خرد ، ابله و پوچ میدونه که هیچ امیدی بهش نیست .
به طور کل یکی از جذابیتهای اصلی کتاب دیالوگهاییه که از زبان تیرزیاس بیان میشه


آنتیگونه


دومین ویژگی منحصر به فرد کتاب از دید من شخصیت و کاراکتر آنتیگونست ‌.
کاراکتری که قدم به قدم شکل گرفت ، رشد پیدا کرد و به عروج غنایی خودش رسید .
تصویری که سوفوکل ۲۵۰۰ سال قبل از آنتیگونه ارائه کرد مصداق بارز و بدون ذره ای ناخالصی ازناب ترین تفکر فمنیست عصر حاضره که الان از ذات اصلی خودش دور شده .
شخصیتی که به جد در خور تحسین و قهرمان اصلی اقبال تو این کتابه .
آنتیگونه به نظرم بزرگترین قربانی این گناه و خشم و غصب خدایان بود که شجاعت رو معنا کرد .
اقا اصلا هر چی بگم کم گفتم .

راجع به خیلی از مسائل از جمله ترجمه بی نقص مسکوب یا خود مسئله افسانه تو ریویوهای دوستان صحبت شده که تکرار مکررات نمی‌کنم.

بخوانید و لذت ببرید که از خشم خدایان به دور باشید .

I read Oedipus the King and Antigone earlier this year, but it was worth a revisit.

This time round I read the Penguin translation by Robert Fagles, it included Oedipus at Colonus, the three together make the Theban plays.

In this edition, each play starts with an essay by Bernard Knox, which I enjoyed reading as much as the plays, and more so, because this time I could follow all the points made without the need to Google anything or refer to any of my other books. Just being able to do this feels good.

I also found the two Oedipus plays left me with a slightly better sense of fate and suffering. I have always struggled with how these concepts are rationalised, especially fate. In my own experience fate is used to justify poor behaviour, where when you stand up to it there are repercussions. So, although I don’t fully appreciate the positives of fate and suffering (the latter being the deal that’s been handed down), reading the two Oedipus plays gives me a glimmer of a different perspective.

Of Antigone, her determination for justice doesn’t win me over completely to her side, especially in how she rejects her sister Ismene. Though, out of the three plays, it has the most comedy with the scenes between a sentry and Creon. These are brilliantly timed and breaks up the tension that is otherwise a very tragic drama.

Looking back, these plays have not been an easy read but with each attempt I have come away with more understanding than before. This is thrilling for me, and encourages me to keep coming back to these plays to read again and again.

Oedipus Rex: A.K.A. The Shittest Day EVER
“But all eyes fail before time’s eyes/All actions come to justice there” (1163-1164).

I'm creating a new shelf entitled "Kids Dig It," and to it I will add works kids of all ages dig --- bedtime stories like the Pokey Little Puppy and stories like Oedipus, which I am currently reading with 11th grade IB students.

It is bull shit to think teenagers don't like the classics. I'd like to bake a bull shit pie and slam it in the face of all such negative Nellies.

When studying O.R. in a classroom of 25, two will be swooning into absolute love (slaves, already, to the Muse), 19 are reading and speaking with considerable animation, and the usual 4 are hating me, their peers, and all humanity, including Sophocles. (Reader, they are also hating you.)

What matters to Ms. h. in room 211? Every eyeball is glued to the page! Even the snarlers are like "Holy fuck, this is fucked up. Are you even allowed to teach us this?"

Sophocles gives no answers and no solutions. It's terrifying. Do we, like O.R., "weave our own doom"? Are we equally benighted? That’s why the angry kids in the room are paying attention: their spidey senses are tingling. Might they to be a "child of endless night?"

Could it be that life is often a horror show? And that in the sorry end "our lives like birds take wing/like sparks that fly when a fire soars/to the shore of the god of evening"?

And even when we feel the divine move our souls with radiant beauty, aren't we still afeared? I will die. My children will die. All I love or will love must die. How I quake when Choragos turns toward me in my joy. Her ancient voice rings in my ears, and I hear her words sung so long afore: “Let every women in humanity's frailty/Consider her last day; and let none/Presume upon on her good fortune until she find/Life, at her death, a memory without pain.”

Tragedy. The Greeks looked unflinchingly at what we cannot understand but must experience. Are we brave enough to look?

So, if you clicked on this review because you are looking for a book your kid might dig, believe me, this is it. Granted, it is rated PG 13. Read it with your teen, again or for the first time.

However, if you still have a toddler to tuck in, please click over to my review of the Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss, which is a fantastic satirical yarn disguised as silly farce. You will enjoy reading this aloud. You will be for real laughing with your sweet Jessica, rather than yearning to Oedipus your eyeballs out.