Frogs And Other Plays

Product Description

Marrying deft social commentary to a rich earthy comedy the three comedies collected in Aristophanes' The Frogs & Other Plays" offers a unique insight into one of the most turbulent periods in Ancient Greek history. This " Penguin Classics" edition is translated by David Barrett with revisions an introduction & notes by Shomit Dutta. The master of ancient Greek comic drama Aristophanes combined slapstick humour & cheerful vulgarity with acute political observations. In " The Frogs" written during the Peloponnesian War Dionysus descends to the Underworld to bring back a poet who can help Athens in its darkest hour & stages a great debate to help him decide between the traditional wisdom of Aeschylus & the brilliant modernity of Euripides. The clash of generations & values is also the object of Aristophanes' satire in Wasps in which an old-fashioned father & his loose-living son come to blows & end up in court. & in " Women at the Thesmophoria" the famous Greek tragedian Euripides accused of misogyny persuades a relative to infiltrate an all-women festival to find out whether revenge is being plotted against him. Shomit Dutta's introduction discusses Aristophanes' life the cultural context of his work & conventions of Greek comedy. This updated version of David Barrett's translation also

Includes:: extensive notes & a preface 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 " Plato's Symposium". He was twice threatened with prosecution 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 Frogs & Other Plays" you might like Aristophanes' " Lysistrata & Other Plays" also available in " Penguin Classics"."