A powerful examination of the stupidity of war and its horrifying effects on the innocent, especially women, that simply begs for an operatic adaptation composed by Puccini.

Medea okumaktan çok çok keyif aldığım bir oyundur; ama Medea haricinde hiç Euripides okumamıştım. 2016 yılının son ayına girmişken bu yıl başka Euripidesler de okuyayım istedim.

Medea kadar olmasa da Troyalı Kadınları da severek okudum.

Oyun, isminden de tahmin edilebileceği üzere "Truva/Troya Savaşı"ndan sonrasını anlatıyor. Savaştan sonra neredeyse tüm Troyalı erkekler ölmüş, geriye kalan kadınlar ve çocuklar ise birer tutsak olarak alınıyorlar. Bizler kitap boyunca o kadınların arasında bulunan Troya Kraliçesi, Kral Priamos'un karısı, Hector'un annesi Hekabe'yi, Hekabe'nin kızı Kassandra'yı, Hector'un karısı Andromakhe'yi ve en sonunda da savaşın müsebbibi Helena'yı okuyoruz.

Sinemada da edebiyatta da genelde hep Agamemnon'u, Paris'i, Hector'u, onların kahramanlıklarını, acımasızlıklarını okuyoruz ya da izliyoruz. Kadınlar -belki de Helen dışındaki kadınlar demek daha doğru- ise birer muamma. Euripides sayesinde o dönemin kadınlarını az da olsa tanıma fırsatı elde ediyoruz. Savaşın bu kadınlarüzeirndeki acımasız etkilerini, kadının insan değil de nasıl "ganimet" olarak addedilip "mal" haline getirildiğini okuyoruz. Ayrıca savaşların esasen bir galibin olmadığını da bir kere daha anlıyoruz. Poseidon'un da dediği gibi,
"Aptaldır kentleri ve tapınakları yerle bir eden,
Mezarları, kutsal yerleri yıkan, aptaldır.
Çünkü yakıp yıkan, kendi yıkımını hazırlamaktadır" (s. 8).

Çeviri Yılmaz Onay'a ait. Bence başarılı bir çeviri.

Kitabın sonunda dipnotlar ve yazarın notları var. Sürekli arkaya dönüp bunları okumak oyundan kopmaya sebep olabiliyor ne yazık ki.

Ayrıca oyun ile ilgili Joachim Latacz'ın incelemesine de yer verilmiş.

Bir de Yılmaz Onay, oyunun sonunda oyunun daha kolay, daha anlaşılır bir şekilde sahnelenebilmesi adına bazı sahnelerin yerlerini değiştirip bazı eklemeler ve çıkarmalar yaparak oyuna dair bir "dramaturji denemesi"ne yer vermiş.

Takes place after the fall of Troy and explores the effect the war had on women. A neat take on Helen and her culpability in the whole thing.

„M-am străduit să-mi aflu dascăl înțelept în însăși mintea mea.”

don taylor has done exactly what I like in versions of greek plays; kept the original structure and tradition but played with the rhythm and language to make it more accessible for contemporary audiences. however, I think he could have striped it back a bit more.

I read this years ago, in college, and I have always remembered the horrible scene in which Hecuba sees the body of her very young grandson, Astyanax, the son of Hector, who has been thrown from the city walls by the Greeks. This is not the same translation as the one I read before, because I vividly remember Hecuba's comment about seeing the "white bone" in the little boy's broken body, and the wording here is slightly different, not as stark. Later I read Caesar's account of taking towns in Gaul, and how the defeated kings would throw themselves from the walls to avoid slavery. Astyanax was seen as a threat because he was the last living link to the throne of Priam; so sad, because of course the little boy would have had no understanding of the politics of which he was the pawn.

Las guerras se han tomado como punto de partida para establecer los límites del ser de occidente. Nuestra cultura ha utilizado innumerables veces las oposiciones para lograr identidad: noche-día, aire-fuego, vencedores-vencidos, hombres-mujeres.

Es así que el conflicto griegos-troyanos es tomado por Eurípides para su tragedia más importante. La obra parte de la caída de Troya a mano de los griegos y nos ofrece una mirada espeluznante de la guerra. Ésta no es gloriosa ni épica; es el mal, el horror, es despojar a las mujeres de su humanidad y afectos, esclavizarlas y someterlas.

Siguiendo los destinos de Hécuba, Andrómaca, Casandra y Hera estamos ante una obra antibelicista donde predominan las pasiones, los actos de locura, el descreimiento de los dioses.

Si bien no es considerada una pieza excelente dado su escaso desarrollo, la poca acción y la ausencia de variedad de tonos, el entierro del escudo de Héctor envía un mensaje de reconciliación, de reclamar la superioridad de la paz.

Newer Review here with Older Review below.

When a GR friend said she wanted to read, I took the opportunity to reread. She and I plan to read literary works that inform our understandings of The Illiad. This time I read  a prose version posted online by MIT. This time I watched this transitional traditional ritual drama enacted outdoors outdoors by UNC-Asheville which was posted on YouTube.

Development of Character. Hecuba is an imperfect yet effective crone. She does not always perceive correctly yet she encourages appropriately, helping her daughter and daughter-in-law to leave Troy with as much dignity as possible. Although Euripides wrote a play that still has strong roots in traditional ritual drama, he wrote lines that tells his audience something of interior landscapes of women, all. The watching of an enactment presented outside makes clear the obstacles Euripides faced in getting his audience to hear anything more than the basic plot to be understood, yet he was successful.
_________

Older Review here.

Many years ago when I was young, I watched the movie version of The Trojan Women (1971). All I understood at the time was that Hecuba stayed strong enough to help the other Trojan women and that Helen was alluring enough to send men to war and to send women into despair and to their destruction. I was horrified. I felt as though I had watched the most horrifying movie ever.

Decades later, I have started to re-read and to read ancient works. This time I both read the play and re-watched the 1971 movie on Vimeo. As to be expected, I have a completely different understanding of the play. Instead of horror, I see literary greatness. All the elements I would hope to see in such a situation-- destruction of a city, the re-allocation of women, the wisdom of a crone, the insanity that can follow crisis, the despair that follows, new awareness and decisions, and the presence of the prime mover of the previous, current, and future action--all take place in a compact and coherent form. Everything I would want to know is known/shown in a short time.

When I first looked over the text prior to reading it, it seemed as though there were long speeches, orations, choruses. Once I both started reading and watching the play, I came to a different, better understanding. Sure some of the speeches were long, yet in the movie moves well enough. Crazed Cassandra moves around, almost as through she is trying to get away from the future assigned her. Andromache stands with her child, cuddles her child, has something of an argument with Hecuba. Helen of Troy moves in a dramatic fashion, as she does a dance of sorts around Menelaus as she works him. The chorus seemed as though it might be the challenging part to read, the chorus talking for for a page or two at a time. While the text reads as straight text and could be delivered that way, the 1971 movie version depicts the chorus as Trojan widows who are a asking questions, remembering, fearing, commenting as a group of despairing women might.

Dithyrambic Chorus. I am reading Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others. In the introductory note to Erra and Ishum, I read that this type of chorus was a traditional ritual drama that evolved into the operas and plays we are more familiar with and that Euripides was an innovator in this change. Appreciating the Connections.

Casting Comments. The main actors of US American, French, and English backgrounds made the movie mainstream and accessible to Western audiences. The women of the chorus appeared authentic enough, varying from fair to dark and with voices that that either used or assumed a non-Western, perhaps Mediterrean, cadence. Adding a strong and important bit of authenticity, Irene Papas who is herself Greek herself plays the Greek Helen of Troy, previously the queen of Sparta and a Hellene. By casting as Helen an actor who looks like a stereotypical dark beauty Greek, the movie acquires 1. a more Mediterrean feel and 2. an otherness in comparison to the rest of the cast, particularly the actors of the main characters. This casting provides an authencity that I have yet to find in later movie depictions.

I will be reading more Euripides plays.

I read with GR group: NonFiction Side reads.

I read from Euripides III: Hecuba / Andromache / The Trojan Women / Ion

La prospettiva dei vinti è sempre affascinante, soprattutto se questi sono le donne che finisco schiave di guerra, concubine del nemico che ha ucciso i loro padri, mariti e fratelli. Qui il lamento di Ecuba si erge su Troia che brucia e fa da collante alla disperazione che lega le superstiti del lungo conflitto, unite dal tremendo destino.

According to Greek mythology, Helen was married to Menelaus. However, Helen runs off with Prince Paris of Troy. This sparks the 10-year epic battle of Troy. This story is set at the very end of the 10-year war. Achilles has killed the mighty warrior Hector, and Paris has killed Achilles. Hector leaves behind a wife, Andromache. There is also the Queen of Troy, Hecuba, who is the mother of Hector. Now, what will happen to Andromache, Hecuba, and Helen?

If you read The Song of Achilles, this essentially picks up where that book ended. For the first time, we finally get to meet Helen (who is supposed to be the most beautiful woman in the world). We find out what the women of Troy really think about Helen. Are they awed by her beauty? What will Menelaus think of Helen? Is he still in love with her? Will he restore her as his wife and queen? Did Paris capture Helen by force or did she run off of her own free will? All of these questions will be answered.

No matter what, no one will take any personal responsibility. It is always, always someone else’s fault in Greek mythology. Also, when you do someone a favor, they are never happy and grateful but are hoping for the favor-granters downfall.

This play was written by Euripides in 415 BC. The language is a bit archaic and even though the play itself is only about an hour read aloud, I spent far longer reviewing the reference materials. For this, I used James Mustich 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die (this book is forever at my side) and litcharts.com. Is this a little tedious? Yes. However, Thomas Paine said, “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.”

This is a book from James Mustich’s 1,000 Books to Read.

2024 Reading Schedulet
JantMiddlemarch
FebtThe Grapes of Wrath
MartOliver Twist
AprtMadame Bovary
MaytA Clockwork Orange
JuntPossession
JultThe Folk of the Faraway Tree Collection
AugtCrime and Punishment
SeptHeart of Darkness
OcttMoby-Dick
NovtFar From the Madding Crowd
DectA Tale of Two Cities

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Leí la edición de Alianza traducida por Ramón Irigoyen. Muy accesible respetando el original. Me ha encantado

I think it's important to realize that the Iliad is a complete genocide, that is, an event not many see as the complete slaughter of a people. Where the Greeks threw babies into fires, kicked pregnant women from the walls of Troy, and Achilles desecrates bodies and beheads Trojan children.
Yet, surprisingly, no men or divines take issue with any of this.

The Women of Troy takes place after Troy is taken, and is not so much a story as it is the first serious anti-war piece. During the Peloponnesian War the Athenians massacred a city because the people wished to remain neutral, and in protest Euripides wrote a play dealing with the horrors the Trojans faced after the Greeks won the war.
Ajax the lessor had just raped Cassandra in Athena's temple, and none of the Greeks said or did anything about it, turning Athena against the Greeks, winning Poseidon over to her new fight at the beginning of the drama. The consequences of this becomes far more profound as we enter into Homer's Odyssey. The rest of the play is devoted to the women of Troy and the hideous fate they suffer, with Hecabe, the widow of Priam, having center focus. Their treatment is grotesque, and their lamentations garner little reprieve in a world where violence comes as naturally as the will of the Gods.