Friday, September 25, 2009

No. 46 - The Complete Plays of Aristophanes

edited by Moses Hadas

Started: September 25
Finished: October 8

Notes: I consider myself pretty well read in classical literature, though admittedly it's been years since I've dipped into any of the ancient literature or histories. Here I'm checking out Aristophanes, a Greek comic playwrite who lived about 2,500 years ago. Aristophanes has come highly regarded to me from a friends, specifically the play "Frogs." Besides entertainment, I also often read for educational purposes; hopefully this will be a little of both.

Mini review: Another book I'm glad to have read but also glad to have finished. Seems I've been reading a lot of those this year. Of the 11 plays here, "Frogs" was by far the funniest and my favorite, with "Birds" being the next best. While only one editor on this book, there were four or five translators, some of whom were quite good but others that were lacking. Glad I read it. There was some funny stuff here. And it was interesting to be reminded of how modern the ancient Greeks really were.

2 comments:

cindy said...

did he write the clouds? i remember reading at least one of his comedies. i took a greek comedy and tragedy class and really enjoyed it back in college!

Ty said...

Hey Cindy!
Yes, Aristophanes wrote Clouds. He supposedly had something like 40 or more plays, but only 11 of them have survived the years.