4 Plays: Electra / Helen / Hippolytus / Medea

Euripides is, of course, wonderful, and the four plays in this volume ("Hippolyta," "Electra," and "Helen" are included as well) are all lovely--but the translation and the edition are horrid. I know nothing about translating from Ancient Greek into English, but I do know good English when I read it, and there's little to be found here. James Morwood's prose translation is filled with tired phrasing and cliches, which drag down the dynamic subject matter. Worse are the "notes" at the end of the book, to which a liberal supply of in-text asterisks point. Roughly half of Morwood's notes are insulting to the reader's intelligence: pointing out overarching themes, explaining the meaning of common English words, and interpreting the actions show more and thoughts of the characters. This is especially annoying given that the other half of the notes, which provide historical background and cultural context, are useful. It took me two plays to figure out which notes to check and which ones not too--an effort that truly wasn't worth it.

I'm going to try and find a verse translation of Euripides and try again in a few years. I would strongly recommend not reading this edition. show less