Book review: Sophocles: The Three Theban Plays

[Originally: https://wmconnolley.livejournal.com/30290.html]

Um, well, a venture into Great Literature. And one I only did because I was wandering through Waterstones and happened to see it laid out. So, score one for physical shops. See-also: [[Sophocles#The Theban plays]].

Overall: difficult. I should re-read it some time.

Ah, is that the keyword above? "Should"? Yes, I think I've accidentally put the truth down.

This stuff was written 2500 years ago, and so its not surprising that much of it is weird or incomprehensible. I suspect it would be even less comprehensible had not generations of translators and interpreters done their best to render the original. There are minor matters like textual integrity, and doubts over which characters get which lines. But I found myself wondering how true to the original some of the English translations could possibly be.

When reading it, I found myself continually wandering off to do other things. So this can't be considered a page-turner. Its hard to read and its dense. Which is good in itself: modern literature is so bloated (vide Spirit). But the "Should" above returns: this is something I read because it has survived for 2500 years, not for enjoyment. I was looking, perhaps, for clues to how people thought then. But that was hoping for too much.