Birds And Other Plays

Product Description

Offering a window into the world of ordinary Athenians Aristophanes The Birds & Other Plays" is a timeless set of comedies combining witty satire & raucous slapstick to wonderful effect. This " Penguin Classics" edition is translated from the Greek by David Barrett & Alan H. Sommerstein. The plays in this volume all contain Aristophanes trademark bawdy comedy & dazzling verbal agility. In " The Birds" two cunning Athenians persuade the birds to build the utopian city of Much Cuckoo in the Clouds in the sky blockading the Olympian gods & installing themselves as new deities. The Knights is a venomous satire on Cleon a prominent Athenian demagogue who vies with a humble sausage-seller for the approval of the people; while " The Assembly-Women" deals with the battle of the sexes as the women of Athens infiltrate the all-male Assembly in disguise. The lengthy conflict with Sparta is the subject of Peace inspired by the hope of a settlement in 421 BC & Wealth reflects on the economic catastrophe that hit Athens after the war. These lively translations by David Barrett & Alan H. Sommerstein capture the full humour of the plays. The introduction examines Aristophanes life & times & the comedy & poetry of his works. This volume also

Includes:: an introductory note for each play. Aristophanes (c.445-386 BC) was probably born in Athens. Little is known about his life but there is a portrait of him in " Platos Symposium". He was twice threatened with prosecution in the 420s for his outspoken attacks on the prominent politician Cleon but in 405 he was publicly honoured & crowned for promoting Athenian civic unity in " The Frogs". Aristophanes had his first comedy produced when he was about twenty-one & wrote forty plays in all. The eleven surviving plays of Aristophanes are published in the " Penguin Classics" series as " The Birds & Other Plays" " Lysistrata & Other Plays" " The Wasps & Other Plays" & " The Frogs & Other Plays". If you enjoyed " The Birds & Other Plays" you might like Aristophanes " The Frogs & Other Plays" also available in " Penguin Classics"."