Lysistrata (Hackett Classics)

I am not one who reads much "serious" fiction generally. Nor do I often read any plays...I'd read most of Shakespeare's plays, but that was decades ago. Nonetheless, I found myself with a copy of Lysistrata, a Greek play from ancient times. In the past I had read some translations of Greek books and plays, and they were okay, but this play! Goodness, what a crazy idea. All the women of Greece stop putting out for their husbands and boyfriends...until the men agree to stop the war. The war had been going on for ages, and only men in the old Greek democracies could vote.But in Lysistrata the women take charge. The play is quite clever and often very funny, too. I never realized how racy some of the Greek plays were, but I suspect modern translators somehow sanitized them, made them "more appropriate" for general audiences, students, etc. But with this translation from scholar Sara Ruden, nothing is cleaned up, softened, toned down...just the opposite. Perhaps if we'd had more spot-on translations of old plays like this when I was young, I might well have dove deeper into the life and times of the Greeks, founders of democracy. A damn good read & a whole lot of fun, too.*I should add also, that the commentary at the end, is an education in itself, and like the play, very readable, not your typical PhD studious (boring!) stuff at all. I am encouraged now, to try another of Sarah Ruden's books.

I wanted to find an accessible translation by a woman to Lysistrata, since I started using Women on the Edge: Four Plays by Euripedes in my theatre history classes. That book is excellent and the women who did the translating did an impressive job of translating without adapting or making the language too contemporary. I was hoping I would find one of the 4 women who translated and edited that book to have published some Aristophanes' translations. In the search I landed on this book,and my students and I really enjoyed this read. The gloss that Sarah Ruden has added to the translated text is excellent, and she explains why she chose to translate a certain phrase in the way that she did. It really opened my students' eyes to the responsibility of a translator, and how a personal agenda cam creep into the translation. As with Women on The Edge, he most valuable aspect of this book in my mind is the excellent commentaries she added on Athenian Democracy, Ancient Greek Warfare, Athenian Women, and Greek Comedy. There is about 10 pages on each of these subjects and, wow, they are so beneficial. I will use this as a required text from now on because it is not expensive and the material included in the commentaries is an invaluable supplement to any theatre history text. Both this book and Women on the Edge provide solid historical context in a way that I have yet to find in larger anthologies or cheaper single play editions. I should add that my students, who are are reading the Greeks at the start of a more extensive theatre hist and lit class, gave both the translation and the commentaries thumbs up! However, one thing to be aware of is that this translation doesn't try to tone down the sexuality in the script. It is very direct ( and again Ruden explains her choices). If you are uncomfortable with the explicit language the Athenians used, or you are looking for an aggressive feminist theory approach to the theatrical text, maybe you won't like this. I want my students to understand the historical context, the laugh lines, and the theatricality of the text. It fits my goals very well. And check out the 4 plays and commentary in Women on the Edge, if you are a Euripides fan!

Neither the creaky and surprisingly prudish anonymous translation published by Dover Thrift Editions nor the profanity-laden, anachronistic but highly readable translation by Sarah Ruden is the perfect classroom edition of Lysistrata. Between the two, I guess I'll start teaching Ruden's version, especially since the footnotes and other apparatus are genuinely scholarly and indicate where liberties are taken.But is the language Ruden chooses really the modern equivalent of how Aristophanes would have sounded to 5th-Century BCE ears? Visually, the play is inescapably bawdy, but is Aristophanes' dialog really so much the equivalent of today's stand-up comedians who "work blue" and use strings of low-minded profanity instead of clever innuendo to be amusing?Personally, I prefer the Dudley Fitts translation, which seems to strike just the right balance between high-tone literal and "urban" street-talk. Unfortunately, the Fitts translation seems to be unavailable in an inexpensive, single-title edition. Any chance Dover might get the rights to it and retire their stilted anonymous translation?[...].

Required for class.

Good translation. Perhaps the best part of it, is it's historical appendices. Probably comes as close to capturing what we know of Athenian "humor" as any translation I've read. There are some allusions that are just lost to history, but still the story and the sharp dialogue is great.

Liked how fast this came in the mail. Also easy to read. Had to buy for a class and will end up keeping it!

After reading five other translations, I chose Ruden's translation to direct at our local community theatre. Yes, it was profane and bawdy but it was the most "performable" of all the translations I read. The footnotes and essays helped actors (and the director) to "get it" and the colloquial language made it accessible to contemporary audience members and those who are just reading the script. The actors and audience loved it! My favorite version...fun and scholarly!

good content

notes useful and text clear to read. Rather raunchy for 6th form but suitable for Degree course-we did it when I was at uni.

Worth reading

arrived on time and as described.