Jean Racine: Four Greek Plays: Andromache-Iphigenia, Phaedra-Athaliah (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780521286763)

Racine's poetry is always thought to be untranslatable; so one of the world's great dramatists remains inaccessible to readers without French. This is the best translation into English; Professor Knight has used a regular English blank verse which conveys remarkably well both the formality and the passion of the original. the plays given here - Andromache, Iphigenia, Phaedra and Athaliah - are chosen because the first three are those which come nearest in subject and feeling to the Attic tragedy that Racine always claimed as his inspiration; while the final biblical drama with its choruses comes nearest to the original Greek form, and perhaps to its spirit. These choruses in Professor Knight's version adhere to the French poetic form, and can be sung to the original music by Moreau. this will be a very helpful group of texts for students of drama. They will act well, and also give the armchair reader a sense of the original.

Author: R. C. Knight
ISBN-10: 052128676X
ISBN-13: 9780521286763
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 04/29/1982
Pages: 240
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.58lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.55d