Synopses & Reviews
Sophocles' play, first staged in the fifth century B.C., stands as a timely exploration of the conflict between those who affirm the individual's human rights and those who must protect the state's security. During the War of the Seven Against Thebes, Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus, learns that her brothers have killed each other, having been forced onto opposing sides of the battle. When Creon, king of Thebes, grants burial of one but not the "treacherous" other, Antigone defies his order, believing it her duty to bury all of her close kin. Enraged, Creon condemns her to death, and his soldiers wall her up in a tomb. While Creon eventually agrees to Antigone's release, it is too late: She takes her own life, initiating a tragic repetition of events in her family's history.
In this outstanding new translation, commissioned by Ireland's renowned Abbey Theatre to commemorate its centenary, Seamus Heaney exposes the darkness and the humanity in Sophocles' masterpiece, and inks it with his own modern and masterly touch.
Review
"There are many translations of Sophocles' Antigone but few with the understated power and spare beauty of Irish Nobel laureate Heaney's version....His fine, new translation makes one wish he would don a translator's hat more often." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"Though Heaney lets ideology interfere with tragedy, he has nonetheless composed a poem full of brilliant strokes....It is doubtful that these register on the stage when it is performed, but on the page they are compelling." Garry Wills, The New York Times
Review
"[A] quick, taut, invigorating read that promises to play well on the stage. While Heaney's vision of the ethical dilemma of ancient Thebes is lucidly rendered, it's clear that in the end the Irish poet's sympathies lie with the uncompromising, disobedient Antigone." Los Angeles Times
Review
"Heaney's accessible translation allows modern readers to wrestle with the play's potent questions again. The line dividing the individual from the state is no less blurry today than it was 2,500 years ago." Christian Science Monitor
Synopsis
Sophocles' play, first staged in the fifth century B.C., stands as a timely exploration of the conflict between those who affirm the individual's human rights and those who must protect the state's security. During the War of the Seven Against Thebes, Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus, learns that her brothers have killed each other, having been forced onto opposing sides of the battle. When Creon, king of Thebes, grants burial of one but not the "treacherous" other, Antigone defies his order, believing it her duty to bury all of her close kin. Enraged, Creon condemns her to death, and his soldiers wall her up in a tomb. While Creon eventually agrees to Antigone's release, it is too late: She takes her own life, initiating a tragic repetition of events in her family's history.
In this outstanding new translation, commissioned by Ireland's renowned Abbey Theatre to commemorate its centenary, Seamus Heaney exposes the darkness and the humanity in Sophocles' masterpiece, and inks it with his own modern and masterly touch.
Synopsis
In this outstanding new translation, commissioned by Ireland's renowned Abbey Theatre to commemorate its centenary, Heaney exposes the darkness and the humanity in Sophocles' masterpiece, and inks it with his own modern touch.
About the Author
Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995. His poems, plays, translations, and essays include Opened Ground, Electric Light, Beowulf, The Spirit Level, District and Circle, and Finders Keepers. Robert Lowell praised Heaney as the "most important Irish poet since Yeats."