[−]
  • Search Digit-count Valid ISBN Invalid ISBN Valid Barcode Invalid Barcode

The Birds and Other Plays

(Penguin Classics)

By Aristophanes, David Barrett (Translator), Alan Sommerstein (Translator)

Paperback | 9780140449518

Book Description

Aristophanes is the only surviving representative of Greek Old Comedy, the exuberant, satirical form of festival drama which flourished during the heyday of classical Athenian culture in the fifth century BC. His plays are characterized by extraordinary combinations of fantasy and satire, sophisticContinue

Aristophanes is the only surviving representative of Greek Old Comedy, the exuberant, satirical form of festival drama which flourished during the heyday of classical Athenian culture in the fifth century BC. His plays are characterized by extraordinary combinations of fantasy and satire, sophistication and vulgarity, formality and freedom. Birds is an escapist fantasy in which two dissatisfied Athenians, in defiance of men and gods, bring about a city of birds, the eponymous Cloudcuckooland. In Lysistrata the heroine of the play organizes a sex-strike and the wives of Athens occupy the Akropolis in an attempt to restore peace to the city. The main source of comedy in the Assembly-Women is a similar usurpation of male power as the women attempt to reform Athenian society along utopian-communist lines. Finally, Wealth is Aristophanes' last surviving comedy, in which Ploutos, the god of wealth is cured of his blindness and the remarkable social consequences of his new discrimination are exemplified. This is the first complete verse translation of Aristophanes' comedies to appear for more than twenty-five years and makes freshly available one of the most remarkable comic playwrights in the entire Western tradition, complete with an illuminating introduction including play by play analysis and detailed notes.

Book Details

  • English Books
  • Paperback 336 Pages
  • Edition: New Ed
  • ISBN-10: 0140449515
  • ISBN-13: 9780140449518
  • Publisher: Penguin Classics
  • Pub date: Oct 28, 2003
  • Dimensions: 20 cm x 13 cm x 2 cm Just how big is that?
Improve data of this book

Prices Change currency & sellers

ISBN Edition List Sale Seller
9780140449518 Paperback $11.00 $9.35 Amazon US
£9.99 £6.99 Amazon UK
$16.50 $12.05 Amazon CA
Other editions
Added to Shelf Added to Wish List

Inline Translation Mode

Left click to navigate, right click to translate.

inline translation guide

or close

Inline translation is not ready for this page yet.

Inline translation mode.

Share this page with your friends.

The viewport has not loaded.