review pending ! good fun in that you can still appreciate the humour/wit without actually having any of it land since it’s catered obv to ancient athenian sensibilities. innumerable meta references and greek puns. funny how some have mutated back into a joke that tracks in the modern context lmao see below. i spent about half my reading time flipping to the end notes, which were a great help. i’ve now learned tbe origins of “cloud cukoo” ! a silly but entertaining comedy.

PISTHETAERUS: Ah! to what use cannot feet be put? [138]

While the translation I read sounded a bit Australian, it still holds up extremely well. The humor is still funny, especially the dick jokes. A lot of the political humor stands up very well too.

This is a classic in the truest sense of the word—a story that holds up perhaps almost as well as it did in ancient athens over 2000 years ago.

A gdyby tak rzucić to wszystko i zamieszkać z ptakami (może być w Bieszczadach)?

"Ptaki" to kolejny utwór Arystofanesa, uchodzący za "arcydzieło komedii staroattyckiej", który (mea culpa) przeczytałam bez większego zainteresowania. Autor był gorliwym obrońcą pokoju i konserwatystą, czego wyraz chętnie dawał w swoich dziełach. W "Ptakach" znajdziemy jego wizję idealnego państwa, w którym nie znajdziemy żadnych wróżbitów, komisarzy ani sofistów z ich szkodliwymi naukami. Super, ja też marzę o państwie, w którym nie będzie niepasujących mi elementów politycznych. I to by było na tyle, bo to myślenie wyłącznie życzeniowe.

There are a lot of things in The Birds that you wouldn't expect in a 2,500 year old comedy. For instance, the Prophet repeatedly asking "Does it really say that?" about a quotation from a book reminds me of the "And I said biiiiiitch" Key and Peele skit. Also, the irreverence towards the gods, the meta references to the comedy's competition judges (and the outright bribery of them) all feel very modern.

Its biggest problem is the narrative structure, which seems virtually nonexistent to me.

خوب بود .در مجموغ یک جور رسالة‌الطیر بود در قالب کمدی.
مشابهت‌های بسیاری با آثار فارسی تولید شده در حوزه‌های تمثیلی مرتبط با پرنده‌ها داشت.

Do i love this? No…did i enjoy reading it? Kind of

ძალიან კარგი რამეა, მომწონს როგორ შეეძლოთ ძველ ბერძნებს ოლიმპოელ ღმერთებზე ასეთი ხუმრობების დაწერა, თეატრში ნახვა და როგორ შეეძლოთ პატივი ეცათ და ეთაყვანათ. რათქმაუნდა პოლიტიზირებული რის არისტოფანე, როგორ შეიძლებოდა რო არ ყოფილიყო, ტიპი სად ცხოვრობდა. მართლა მაგარია. კომედიით დავინტერესდი ამ ბოლო დროს და ვფიქრობ, სტრუქტურულად ფრინველები ნამდვილი კომედიაა და ყველანაირად შეიძლება განივრცოს.

“Since Time was, I have been a friend of Man" ( Prometheus: The Birds)

The usual style we are used to from Aristophanes. Perhaps a little more serious in tone (less scatological humour :D) with more metaphors rather than direct references to contemporary politics. An enjoyable read.

Comme toujours avec Aristophane : une pièce facile à lire, drôle et irrévérencieuse.

« Les oiseaux sont aujourd'hui des dieux pour les hommes : c'est à eux qu'il faut sacrifier, et non à Zeus… de par Zeus ! »

Must have gotten a good translation on this because I enjoyed and understood the play much more then I thought I would.

My edition (in a collection translated by Benjamin Bickley Rogers) is of a similar vintage to other translations I've been reading of the Ancient Greek gang, but it's in a different category entirely. It gives rhythm and rhyme to the text, shifting tone and style as required, wringing humour out of what would otherwise be a rather dry exercise. There's only so much the translator can do, though, this play being like 80% very specific jokes/references to other stories, real people, and localities that would have been known at the time but now are just an parade of unrecognisable names.