The Electra Plays

Today good reading and effective performance of ancient drama require a constellation of talents to succeed, and in the four brought together for The Electra Plays we are getting some of the best. Justina Gregory provides a fine critical Introduction to the whole project, and the performance-tested translations of Peter Meineck, Cecelia Eaton Luschnig, and Paul Woodruff are wonderfully readable and speakable--even when the events to be spoken of are not. This is not the usual random gathering of plays, but a volume with a concentrated focus on the three playwrights' treatment of the same events in the House of Atreus. There are parallels and profound differences, all of them endlessly discussable. This ensemble of plays and the team that made it should appeal to anyone interested in Greek literature, theater history, or mythology. --James Tatum, Aaron Lawrence Professor of Classics, Dartmouth College, and author of Plautus: The Darker Comedies (Johns Hopkins University Press)

Once again, Peter Meineck and Paul Woodruff team up (this time with Cecelia Eaton Luschnig) to produce a thoroughly engaging text with lively translations that prove to be of great value to the college classroom. . . . The clarity of the translations, the unburdensome thoroughness of the introduction, and the judicious selection of footnotes, however, combine to allow students both within and outside the pertinent disciplines to appreciate how The Electra Plays speak directly to the world. --Mitchell M. Harris, Augustana College

A useful selection of works that should be considered seriously by any instructor who wishes to engage with the Electra Plays. It presents a good teaching text--one that provides the students with a solid foundation to get them started and then allows the plays to speak for themselves. It will provide instructors and students alike with an effective opportunity to contrast the dramatic approaches and thematic interests of the three playwrights, and presents a vivid illustration of the ability of Attic tragedy to engage its audience both emotionally and intellectually. --John Porter, Department of History, University of Saskatchewan, in Mouseion