- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Penguin; New edition edition (30 Aug 1973)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140442871
- ISBN-13: 978-0140442878
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 397,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Lysistrata and Other Plays (Penguin Classics)
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First Sentence
scene: The orchestra at first represents the Pnyx, where the Assembly met. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
scene: The orchestra at first represents the Pnyx, where the Assembly met. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Translation with wit but without true character of original,
By A Customer
This review is from: Aristophanes: Lysistrata /The Acharnians/The Clouds (Paperback)
Alan Sommerstein went to some length to translate the puns and plays on words (as further explained in the endnotes), which results in a very active play, and, for the careful reader, wit in nearly every line. He also uses the endnotes to explain further the Greek personalities mentioned in the plays, which adds to the understanding; my recommendation would be to read the play straight, then read the associated endnotes, then reread the play in question.This translation captures the humor of the original, which ranges from low-brow slapstick to witty one-liners to political asides--a union of vaudeville, Oscar Wilde, and Mark Russell. However, what Sommerstein utterly misses is the form of ancient Greek comedy. The lyric choruses are rendered in choppy iambic lines, with many of them set to tunes from Gilbert & Sullivan. Aristophanes meant to use vulgarity in the acting, not in the lines of the Chorus. Two stars for verbal wit, two stars for completeness of endnotes, and one star for my love of "Lysistrata", minus one star for excessive use of campy tunes. (For those of you who do like his translations, or those just looking for the other eight plays, they are contained in two more volumes. Sommerstein collaborated with David Barrett in the volume Knights/Peace/Birds/Women's Assembly/Wealth, while Barrett translated Wasps/Women's Assembly/Frogs. Barrett takes less care with the translation of humor, but does not destroy the credibility of the choral lines.)
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
great comedy!,
By Mr C Gibson "Oxford Classics Student" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lysistrata and Other Plays (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
Aristophanes was the greatest comedian in the ancient Greek world and this play is, without a doubt, his most entertaining work.Having recently read books on the role of women in ancient Greek society, it was great to read a play with a women protagonist and the solution to the war was an ingenious one - a sex strike!!! This play is very funny and very worth reading.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very funny even at this distance in history,
By PygmyTwylyte (Citizen of the world) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lysistrata and Other Plays (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
Aristophanes wrote this about 2400 years ago.The storyline-of two Greek cities involved in a long,senseless war to the point where the women go on sexual strike-still speaks clear today.In 2003 in the run up to the US invasion of Iraq,readings of "Lysistrata" were held all over the globe as an anti-war protest.
The quibbles about the translation are just that-quibbles.It's very funny even for the non-classicist,but best of all,see it when a local theatre company,either professional or amateur,stages a performance near you.
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