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 had to read Antigone, the third play in The Oedipus Cycle, in the 9th or 10th grade. The teacher filled us in about the occurrences in Oedipus Rex, but our starting point was only with Antigone. My memory fails to recall which grade exactly, but I certainly remember how my English teacher made it deathly boring. I can't remember which teacher, but it still clings to my memory his or her words about Oedipus' "fatal flaw." This was repeated over and over I guess to sound like an expert. One of the fatal flaws for me in studying Sophocles' masterpieces was to present the last of the trilogy in the very dry teaching mode of my teacher. Great literature was ruined. I couldn't for the life of me at the time believe what the teacher was saying that Antigone was classic literature. I was squirming in the seat reading it and hating every class lecture, reading, and discussion. I don't know if reading the entire Oedipus Cycle at the time would have helped me to have a different view or not.

Thirty years later I have evolved in taste. It started happening in the 12th grade. It takes a special teacher to know how to bring alive antique and ancient literature, and Mr. Harwood did with Hamlet in his advanced English class. Following a school year in his class, even sitting through the classes of stodgy old English professors in college wasn't so bad after 12th grade English, but it took me three decades to come back to Sophocles, and I'm very happy I did. I should have come back sooner since my used copy has been on the shelf at least 20 years.

This is a marvelous translation. The language runs smooth and elegantly. The drama and the desire to know what will happen next made this a page turner for me. 2500 years later The Oedipus Cycle holds up very well. Although this is Greek tragedy there are a few flashes of humor, especially in Antigone.

This translation includes a commentary following Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone and also an index of names.

اگر راست باشد که حقیقت زهرآگین است، آنتیگونه را باید یک شوکران تلخ نامید. تراژدی تقابل‌ها، همه چیز در برابر همه چیز، کششی به سوی مرگ...

A mais bela das tragédias como citou Aristóteles na sua Poética (referindo-se a Édipo Rei) em versão completa com Édipo em Colono e Antígona.
Livro essencial, com ótimas introduções à cada peça (nao leia antes se nao quiser spoilers) e notas para situar o leitor.

انقدر زیبا بود که به سختی می شد باور کرد متعلق به 2500 سال قبله! یعنی قرن پنجم پیش از میلاد!
چقدر دغدغه و مسائل انسان دیروز با امروز یکسان بوده. هر سه نمایشنامه رو دوست داشتم خصوصا آنتیگونه و ادیپ.
بنای ظلم پایدار نمی مونه. انسان های خودرای و خودکامه می توانند سرنوشت خود را از پیش اینجا بخوانند.

What a brutal, awful world it was for the pagans. They believed in gods who, for no reason at all, sentenced men to arbitrary acts of inhumanity--even so designed as to be done unknowingly, yet with terrifying consequences.

The story of Oedipus and his family is simply awful. It makes for an interesting story, but the fact that the Greeks believed the world was so ordered that such things occurred demonstrates their own spiritual blindness and willful ignorance of the order of grace and justice ordained by the one true God. Thanks be to God for giving his grace and forgiveness to the world that we might be reconciled to Him through his Son, Jesus Christ, and redeemed from the machinations of the devil.

A good translation of the classic Oedipal plays.

آنتیگونه! ای اول فمنیست جهان، ای زاده‌ی نفرین و شرم، ای کسیکه بر سنت‌ها شوریدی، ای میرنده در راه عشق، دوستت دارم.

تسلیم شدن یا تسلیم نشدن. مسأله این است.
و من همچنان معتقدم پیام این تراژدی همون جمله معروف بوکوفسکی عه
Don't try
.....
این کتاب رو باید هدیه داد.

عجب شاهکاری!
هر چیز را زکاتی است و زکات عقل اندوهی است طویل (تذکره‌الاولیا)
سه گانه فوق‌العاده سوفوکلس (سوفوکل)، ماجرای جنگ آدمی با تقدیر است. ماجرای مردان و زنانی که تاوان دانستن‌شان را می‌دهند. ادیپوس که بنا بر پیشگویی شومی فرسنگ‌ها در کودکی از والدینش جدا شده؛ بر طریق شوم سرنوشت نزد آنان و به تبای باز می‌گردد. اما چگونه و به چه نحو؟ این مرد دانا، این پاسخگوی معمای ابوالهول، شهر آبا و اجدادی را نجات می‌دهد. پله پله بیشتر می‌داند و با هر دانستن، رولی که خدایان برایش در نمایش عالم نوشته‌اند را بهتر بازی می‌کند. دریغ که نمی‌داند چه سرنوشت شومی در انتظار اوست. هر بار که دری از حقایق به روی وی باز می‌شود؛ او را محنتی عظیم‌تر فرا می‌گیرد.
ادیپوس (ادیپ) مرد خردمندی است که پنجه در چنگال سرنوشت برده است. آدمیزادگانی که بازیچه جنگ‌های خدایان گشته‌اند. این سه گانه روایت عاقبت شوم یک خاندان است. خاندان‌شاهی که سنگینی گناه را از اولین‌شان یعنی کادموس، بر گردن دارند. جنگ ما بین نیرویی از پیش مقهور و دعوا بر ظفری از پیش معین است. آدمی بازیچه اختلافات خدایان است. همچون که جد ادیپوس، به فرمان خدایگانی گوش داد و این غضب خدای دیگری را جلب کرد و برای همیشه او را نفرین نمود.
ادیپوس ملغمه ای از نیروی خرد و تاریکی است. در نمایشنامه اول این ترکیب به خوبی نمایان است...
سه گانه افسانه های تبای، شامل سه نمایشنامه ادیپوس شهریار، ادیپوس در کلنوس و آنتیگونه است. رخدادهایی که در پی هم رخ می‌دهند. گرچه سوفوکلس به این ترتیب نمایشنامه ها را ننوشته است اما به خاطر رعایت ترتیب داستانی، به این شکل در کتاب چیده شده اند. (گفتنی است که سوفوکلس ابتدا آنتیگونه سپس ادیپوس شهریار و در آخر ادیپوس در کلنوس را نوشت)
نمایشنامه اول و سوم هر دو شاهکار هستند و نمایشنامه دوم از این جهت مهم است که این دو را به یکدیگر متصل می‌کند.
در مورد آنتیگونه ترجیح می‌دهم به طور مستقل در مجلد جدایی که به ترجمه آقای دریابندری هست بنویسم.
این کتاب را از دست ندهید. گرچه شاید ترجمه گاهی ثقیل بنماید و کلمات دور از ذهن. اما خواندن نثر آقای مسکوب فوق‌العاده است. هم‌چنین مقدمه شاهرخ مسکوب در ابتدای کتاب و متن بومار، با عنوان آنتیگونه و لذت تراژیک، راهنمای خوبی برای فهم و تعمق در این اثر جاودانه است.

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.

Chemi mokrzalebuli azrit xevisberi gocha ufro kargi tragediaa

کتاب خیلی عالی و فوق العاده بود.
از کتابهایی که سخت میشد زمین گذاشت. متن بسیار روان بود.مضامین و مفاهیمش هم علی رغم اینکه متن حدود دوهزار سال قبل نویسانده شده، بسیار ناب و دست اولند.

از سه بخش تشکیل شده کتاب.
بخش اول مواجهه ادیپوس به سرنوشت و تقدیری که از آن فراری بود.
بخش دوم مرگ ادیپوس و بخش سوم کشته شدن آنتیگنه.

خمیر مایه اصلی داستان فرار از تقدیر انسانیهو ادیپوس پیشگویی معبد دلفی در مورد سرنوشت شوم خودش رو میدونه. و هرچه که سعی میکنه که ازش فرار کنه، ناگهان در لحظه‌ای که نفس راحتی میکشه، با کنجکاوی بسیار برای کشف راز تولد خویش باعث آشکار شدن رازی کثیف میشه.

شخصیت های داستان بیش از حد مغرورند. و در قبول حقیقتی که در مقابله با اونها قرار میگیره سرسختی نشون میدند. گذشته رو بسیار سخت فراموش میکنند.

با فضای داستان:
ما با تقدیر مواجه میشیم. ولی نحوه ای که با اون مواجه میشیم دست خودمونه.ادیپوس به حتم اگر میدونست چنین پلیدی ها رو انجام نمیداد. و من خدایان رو در این ماجرا مقصر میدونم.

بیشتر ترجیح میدم در مورد کتاب حرف بزنم تا بنویسم.

با سپاس و تشکر فراوان از بانو اسماء که این کتاب خیلی خوب رو به من امانت داد:))