Trojan Women

The Greek Tragedy in New Translations series is based on the conviction that only translators who write poetry themselves, or who work in collaboration with poets, can properly re-create the celebrated and timeless tragedies of the great Greek writers. These new translations are more than faithful to the original text, going beyond the literal meaning in order to evoke the poetic intensity and rich metaphorical texture of the Greek language. The Trojan Women describes with unparalleled intensity the horrific brutality that both women and children undergo at the end of the Trojan War, but in the end it is a play that insists on the victory of spirit amid the horrors created by gods and men. Poet and English professor Alan Shapiro, together with noted Greek scholar, translator, and Classics professor Peter Burian, bring into their own words the Aeschylean vision of a world fraught with spiritual and political tensions, disordered by an irrational war.

Review: Shapiro's poetic translation works not just as a rendering of Greek, but as a good, at times gripping, English Literature script. * Maxine Lewis, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *