Oedipus the King was the first Greek tragedy I read in my life, when I was still of a single-digit school age and not exactly because it was compulsory reading for my class (who wants to inflict uninentional incest on young children, anyhow?). I don't recall how old I was, besides too young, nor the exact circumstances that led me to pick up an "adult" book, but I do recall the copy belonged to an older cousin of mine who was definitely reading it for school, and that I also read Homer's two epics round the same time.

No, I wasn't traumatised. No, I don't recall being grossed out of my young wits by the amount of age-inappropriate content. No, I didn't find the story disturbing at all. No, I didn't have nightmares, and didn't remember the plot for long after.

Yes, it's probably behind my grown-up tolerance for the likes of House Lannister. Ahem!

More seriously, I never read the entire trilogy until now. Mostly because I already knew what was coming after the first play, and that more or less spoilt it for me. But currently I'm on a Big Three Tragedians reading binge, and it was Sophocles' turn. Looking in my shelves, turns out I've hoarded about seven different translations of his plays, from which I selected Robert Fagles as the best of the lot after sample-reading the others (Bagg and Kitto are next for the top three, by the way).

Did I like the two other plays that complete the Oedipan cycle, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone? Yes! Definitely yes, it's the only trilogy that got 5 stars for all three in a row, despite not being my favourite drama plot. It's too good to rate lower, in my opinion. And seeing the quality, it made me wish Sophocles' complete take on the House of Atreus hadn't been lost.

As a curious observation, there's an interesting little detail here: Sophocles chose to have Oedipus get divine compensation for his tragic fate upon death, by an ending that looked similar to biblical tales of similar tone, and also reminded me somewhat of J. R. R. Tolkien's Túrin, another tragically cursed character also driven to unintentional incest by forces beyond his control. Very interesting! What it is, I won't be telling, just do read it.

سه نمایشنامه در یک کتاب با ترجمه درخشان شاهرخ مسکوب. باید اقرار کنم که بسیار شگفت زده شدم. دیالوگ ها فوق العاده درخشان و عمیق بودن. و گیرایی بی نظیر هر سه نمایشنامه که چندان دور از انتظار نبود. میدونستم با یه شاهکار طرفم و واقعا لذت بردم و بسیار آموختم از کتاب.

ادیپوس شهریار۳
ادیپوس در کلئوس ۳
آنتیگونه ۵ ♡♡♡♡♡

Towering over the rest of greek tragedy, these three plays are among the most enduring and timeless dramas ever written. Robert Fagles' translation conveys all of Sophocles' lucidity and power: the cut and thrust of his dialogue, his ironic edge, the surge and majesty of choruses and, above all, the agonies and triumphs of his characters.

"I know of no better modern English version." -Sir Hugh Llyod-Jones, Oxford University

به سختی به این کتاب میتوان 5 نداد. درواقع کتاب بین 4 و 5 حرکت میکند. فرازهای زیادی از کتاب و مقدمه و موخره درخشانش قطعا 5 است اما همین حرکت میان 4 و 5 و به شکل مطلق در اوج نماندن باعث میشود که در مجموع به کتاب 4 ستاره بدهم.
مقدمه شاهرخ مسکوب و به خصوص موخره آندره بونار حقیقتا درخشان بودند. خواندن تراژدی ها قبل و بعد از خواندن مقاله ی بونار تفاوت های جدی ای باهم دارند. "خواندن" نیروهای متضاد هستی و درون وجود انسان از لا به لای سطور نمایشنامه های سوفوکلس شاید تا حدی توضیح دهنده کاری باشد که بونار میکند.
جاهایی از مقاله بونار برای من حتی به شکل نیایشی در می آمد که وجودم را لبریز میکرد..!

I really bought this for Antigone, but I read all three. For some reason I find Greek tragedy so much easier to read than Shakespeare. And when Greeks go tragic they hold nothing back

در کل فوق العاده بود.
کم و بیش با نمایشنامه اول آشنا بودم و کلا داستان ادیپوس و مخصوصا سرنوشتش توی نمایشنامه اول برام مسخره و غیرقابل قبول بود اما وقتی کامل خوندمش به شدت تحت تاثیر قرار گرفتم مخصوصا با دیالوگ های خود اودیپوس در قسمت های پایانی.
هر سه تا نمایشنامه پایان های به شدت فوق العاده و مو بر تن راست کنی داشتن فقط یه مشکل کوچیک با پایان ادیپوس در کلنوس داشتم که اونم این بود که خیلی دوست داشتم چیزی که ادیپوس به تسئوس نشون میده رو بدونم چیه و تو نمایشنامه بخونمش.
و چه ترجمه ی فوق العاده ای هم هست ترجمه شاهرخ مسکوب قشنگ ترجمه ی جان داریه و نثرش کاملا حس داره، حتی میشه گفت به شدت کوبنده اس.

The plays and messages were excellent (I mean how can one go wrong with Sophocles?), but this translation took a nosedive with the last play Antigone. The slang and too modern language (i.e. "blockhead", "I won't take the rap") sounded like dissonant music to my ear. I had to pull out my 1967 Penguin Classic edition from H.S. days to finish this last play. In HS we only read Oedipus Rex, so the Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone were fresh reads for me. If you are looking for a review that discusses the story or a scholarly treatise, you'll have to look elsewhere; there are plenty by better writers than I.
I did have one niggle, as the plays presented in the trilogy are not presented in their chronologically written order, so do I assume the story of Oedipus was already well known to the citizens before Antigone was staged as a play as it already refers to the curse of the house of Oedipus as a few other actions from the other plays.
I also seemed to have missed why Oedipus after unknowingly fulfilling the tragic prophecy from his birth, exiling and blinding himself, yet still showed the same hubris from Oedipus Rex in Oedipus at Colonus, was allowed a death that was near divine.
Antigone was definitely my favorite character and my hats off to Sophocles for developing a strong female character in a male dominated mortal world.

As always, I am torn among the many translations. I have this Penguin edition, translated by Robert Fagles (1982), and the older (1949) translation by Dudley Fitts & Robert Fitzgerald.

Fagles' translation reads well, but so does Fitzgerald's. Fitzgerald breaks down the play to scenes, which I like--even though these are short plays, I find Fagles' no-break translation rather tiresome. (I have no idea which style is more faithful to the ancient Greek original.)

Sometimes the two translations are so quite different that I wonder if they come from the same original (perhaps there are variations?) Here is the same speech by Antigone:

Fitzgerald

I dared.
It was not God's proclamation. That final Justice
That rules the world below makes no such laws.

Your edict, King, was strong,
But all your strength is weakness itself against
The immortal unrecorded laws of God.
They are not merely now: they were, and shall be,
Operative for ever, beyond man utterly.

I knew I must die, even without your decree:
I am only mortal. And if I must die
Now, before it is my time to die,
Surely this is no hardship: can anyone
Living, as I live, with evil all about me,
Think Death less than a friend? ...

Fagles

Of course I did. It wasn't Zeus, not in the least,
who made this proclamation--not to me.
Nor did that Justice, dwelling with the gods
beneath the earth, ordain such laws for men.
Nor did I think your edict had such force
that you, a mere mortal, could override the gods,
the great unwritten, unshakable traditions.
They are alive, not just today or yesterday:
they live forever, from the first of time,
and no one knows when they first saw the light.

These laws--I was not about to break them,
not out of fear of some man's wounded pride,
and face the retribution of the gods.
Die I must, I've known it all my life--
how could I keep from knowing?--even without
your death-sentence ringing in my ears.
And if I am to die before my time
I consider that a gain. Who on earth,
alive in the midst of so much grief as I,
could fail to find his death a rich reward? ...

As you see, Fagles tends to be wordy. And where did the line "not out of fear of some man's wounded pride" come from? (I sorta like it, however. Ah, the two equally proud characters--Antigone and Creon. I can see both sides' points.)

These plays were offered at Dionysia events to honor Dionysus, the god of joy and entertainment. I find it interesting that tragedies were the main part of this theatrical event. Apparently, ancient Greeks knew the positive, cleansing effect of a good cry.

آنگاه که خرد را سودی نیست ، خردمندی دردمندی است .
آنچه شدنی است خواهد شد .
چون دوستی پاکباز را برانی ، گرانتر گنجها ، زدگی خویشتن را هدر کرده ای .
از این پیش بامداد روشن من بودی و اکنون ظلمت بی انتهای من
طبایع جان سخت آسانتر می شکنند . سخت ترین فلزات ، آهن ، همان است که آسانتر در هم می شکند .
ستمگران از هر سعادتی برخوردارند و از آن میان از سعادت کر بودن نیز .

تجربه‌ای که شاید بعدا دوباره اتفاق نیافته. مثل تب خاکی روی پشت‌بوم

نثر زیبا و وزین شاهرخ مسکوب، لذت خوندنش رو چندین برابر کرد.