Jeg tror måske jeg er for dum til bogen, for der var en del ting i bogen, jeg ikke helt fik med… Men den var ret sjov alligevel!!
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“Skønt armen skulle holdes strakt med skjoldet foran brystet, så tænker de: “Athene, fuck!””

“Han var ikke vildmand nok mellem lagner, sukkerstangen vared ikke natten ud. Kvinder vil have kæp, din oldsag.”

“Vi har tabt, I fisseletter! Fjenden er i overtal.”

Funny, witty Greek comedy. Only thing I've fully understood in my Ancient Philosophy class so far. Amusing to read such crass humor and language from the Ancients- it was like reading a really good SNL skit set a couple thousand years ago.

Good and at times laugh out loud funny. Just goes to show one can learn complex ideas while being entertained. I would favorably compare this play to the recent movies of Woody Allen.

Librevox has a free audio version available.

I guess it was my first time reading a comedy... I picked it up on purpose actually! I think I still need to think about it but the way Socrates was depicted by Aristophanes and how the struggle between old and new is presented is really smart! Strepsiades, who is trying to use the new for his own good, eventually reaches the point that he notices the new is not merely going to be an operator but is going to act as a condition whose dominance will turn up against old, no matter what! I'm going to read some more of Aristophanes in these days and figure out!
PS: what I couldn't grasp was Socrates and his association with the Sophists here... We're often told they didn't get on well!

1.5
Miejscami humor wręcz obrzydliwy. Książka tak naprawdę o niczym, poza próbą wyśmiania nauk Sokratesa. Oczekiwałam dobrej komedii, a dostałam śmieszny wypierdek.

My expectations for this Greek play were lowered after reading that it came in last place at the Annual Athenian Tony Awards. Maybe the judges snubbed Aristophanes because he spoofed their guy Socrates. I don’t know. But I have to say this was actually pretty funny. At least for the first half. And then like most modern-day comedies, it sort of fizzled out by the end.

I suppose after reading Aristophanes’ rather raunchy Lysistrata I should have expected that this one would also be R-rated, but I was still surprised at the volume of fart jokes. Maybe I should say the number of fart jokes.

I read the Poochigian translation which is contemporary and entertaining, and a welcome change from the formal and stuffy language in most of the other Greek plays I’ve read. It makes me wonder how much more I might have enjoyed them had I read similarly up-to-date translations. Unfortunately, the translations that are cheap on Kindle typically seem to be of the archaic and clunky variety. Thus once again I have been burned by my own miserliness.

the original fart jokes

The edition of 'The Clouds' that I read was a part of the anthology Eight Great Comedies and was translated by Benjamin Bickley Rogers. This book that was lent to me by my school as a part of our English unit on comedy, where we briefly studied The Importance of Being Earnest, another play within the volume. As this school year is coming to an end, I figured that I should try to read some of the other comedies while I had the book in my hands.

Reading ancient plays do, by nature, come with some difficulties for me. I admit to having little knowledge of Greek history and the context in which The Clouds was written – I possess more knowledge on Ancient Rome than Greece. I do, however, know my mythology, which definitely helped in furthering my understanding of this work. Having an understanding of context would assist in comprehension, and perhaps I will return to this work after gaining that knowledge.

Despite this, I still found The Clouds enjoyable. This play tells this story of Strepsiades, a man deeply in debt. He enrolls in a “thinking house” to be taught how to outwit his creditors in court by Socrates. He proves to be completely incompetent and is replaced by his son, who, of course, doesn’t want to go to this school where there are pale-faced nerds; he would much rather hang out with his horses. The knowledge that Strepsiads’s son Pheidippides gains, however, comes at a price…

Although it is a comedy, this play does contain a serious undertone in which Aristophanes heavily criticises Socrates and Sophists in general. Through the debate between ‘Right Logic’ and ‘Wrong Logic’ (guess which one Aristophanes is criticising!), Aristophanes explains how ‘Wrong Logic’, the ability to live life with no effort and talk yourself out of all trouble, regardless of its unjust and immoral nature, is how many politicians and people of high status have become so fortunate. The ending, I felt, brought the serious and critical undertone to the surface. I suppose I would have to see the play performed to observe its intended meaning (although I guess this would vary as well, depending on the directors interpretation).

A lot of people are also commenting about how crude this play is. I suspect that I am reading either a euphemistic or censored translation, as I’ve noticed minimal bawdiness. I’m probably missing out. I don’t know enough Ancient Greek to judge the translation, but otherwise, the flowing, rhyming dialogue is quite interesting to read. Overall, I enjoyed this play, although admittedly, it didn’t make me laugh out loud. I would recommend it to, obviously, fans of Greek comedy, although it is a relatively readable one for those who want to give it a try for the first time.

Entertainment value: 3.5/5
Readability (would vary according to translation): 2.5/5 (5 being the most difficult to read)
Characters (depth/development): 2/5
Plot: 3.5/5

I'm really impressed with the combo minds of Aristophanes and William Arrowsmith, who together are wonderful satirists. I'm not sure how much of the text was true translation of the original Greek and how much was the interpretation on the part of Arrowsmith, so I must attribute my liking of the bulk of the play to both men.

I love the following passage and what it's saying about people who buy into false trends:

Koryphaios: ...Sir, complete your course with us and you shall win a glory that towers to heaven.

Strepsiades: Could you be a little more specific?

Koryphaios: You shall pass your entire existence up in the air, among us, strolling about with your head in the Clouds...

The one thing I'd say I disliked and Arrowsmith pointed this out in a footnote as well, is the change of the purpose of The Clouds, aka The Chorus. Their original motivation seems to prove themselves the all-powerful and convince Strepsiades to give himself to sophistry. In the end, they have morphed into moral entities showing Strepsiades the error of casting off his morals and giving into the sophist mindset. This is of course inconsistent, if only because there is no hint that The Clouds are initially testing Strepsiades to see if he is weak and stupid enough to follow sophist thought.

اجرای صوتی این نمایشنامه به کارگردانی هاله رنجبر، که توسط «نوین‌کتاب» تهیه شده است، را گوش دادم و از آن بسیار لذت بردم. به احتمال زیاد برای مرور جزییاتش، نسخهٔ مکتوب آن را نیز تورق کنم. علی‌الظاهر این همان نمایشنامه‌ای است که سقراط در «خطابهٔ دفاعیه» از بهتان‌گویی نویسندهٔ آن شکوه کرده است. در این نمایشنامه سقراط به صورت یک معلم سوفسطائی تصویر شده است؛ ادعایی که خود سقراط آن را انکار می‌کند و در مقام دفاع اینگونه به آن پاسخ می‌دهد: «تئاتر آریستوفانس [...] سقراطی نمایش می‌داد مدعی پرواز در هوا و دعاوی پوچ دیگر مانند آن، که روح من از آن خبر ندارد.» (شش رساله/ افلاطون، ترجمهٔ فروغی).

Jak na komedię, mało zabawne - nie zaśmiałem się ani razu. Jak na źródło historyczne, mało wiarygodne - wiadomo, że postać Sokratesa została przedstawiona w krzywym zwierciadle, raczej w celu ośmieszenia go, aniżeli przekazania światu jego faktycznych wartości i nauk.
Odniosłem wrażenie, że Arystofanes próbuje oczernić Sokratesa z tego jedynie powodu, że sam go nie rozumie, co nie jest zbyt honorowym podejściem. O ile kontekst historyczny rzeczywiście może bawić (podobnie jak słynna reakcja Sokratesa na przedstawienie, podczas którego stwierdził, że aktor go odgrywający mógłby być ładniejszy), tak sam tekst jest raczej denny, uwikłany naprzemiennie ze szczucia Ateńczyków na Sokratesa i żartów o puszczaniu bąków i masturbacji.
Może to ja czegoś nie zrozumiałem, nie doczytałem pomiędzy wierszami, ale na mój gust, to nigdy nie powinno się znaleźć w kanonie lektur szkolnych - jeśli to była najlepsza komedia antyczna, jaką mogli znaleźć do reprezentacji gatunku, to ci antyczni komicy wcale nie trzymali się najlepiej.

Bardzo się cieszę, że nie muszę oceniać lektur gwiazdkowo. Zawsze było to dla mnie problematyczne. Ciężko ocenić coś, co jest bardzo stare i jest napisane zupełnie innym językiem niż ten, którego aktualnie używamy. Tak samo fakt, że jest to komedia, a mnie raczej tutaj nic nie bawiło. Nie moje klimaty.