Trojan Women, Helen, Hecuba
Three Plays about Women and the Trojan War
Euripides
Verse translations by Francis Blessington, with introductions and notes
Wisconsin Studies in Classics
Matthew Roller, Laura McClure, Mark Stansbury-O’Donnell, Series Editors
“These lively, accurate translations will allow readers and theater
audiences to appreciate the power of Euripidean tragedy. Blessington’s
language is spare and his translation fairly literal, allowing direct—sometimes punchy—delivery while retaining poetic expressions from
the Greek.”
—Francis Dunn, author of Tragedy’s End: Closure and Innovation in
Euripidean Drama
These three ancient tragedies—Trojan Women, Helen, and Hecuba—dramatize the tragic fates of women in the wake of war. Euripides (480–406 BC) innovatively brought to Greek tragedy the inner lives of his characters. In these plays he delivers powerful portrayals of the suffering of both Greek and Trojan women as they become pawns and prizes of warring men.
Francis Blessington combines his work as a poet, translator, and teacher of literature and Greek with his theatrical experience to create fresh and faithful verse translations suitable for the stage, the classroom, or the general reader. The three plays are augmented by introductions, notes, and an appendix on elements of Greek tragedy. Blessington glosses historical and mythological terms, identifies Greek themes in the texts, offers literary interpretations, and suggests topics for discussion.
Francis Blessington is a professor of English at Northeastern University in Boston. He is the author of several books of poetry and scholarship and has published translations of Euripides’ The Bacchae and Aristophanes’ The Frogs.
 Euripides (480–406 BC) was the author of at least ninety tragedies in classical
Athens. He was innovative in his portrayal of the inner lives of characters and in
his compassionate representations of victims of society, including women.
Praise
“Very readable and very skillful in use of language. . . . Retaining the formality of the Greek text, as he does in many instances, produces a sharp reminder of the society of fifth century Athens.”
—Bryn Mawr Classical Review
“The admirable new translation [of Trojan Women] by Francis Blessington is notable for its clarity and dark eloquence.”
—Boston Globe
Of Related Interest
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Selected Epigrams
Martial, Translated with notes by Susan McLean, Introduction by Marc Kleijwegt |
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Larger images
December 2015
LC: 2015010084 PA
274 pp. 5 x 8
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