A trilogy full of all that made the ancient Greek tragedies great: murder, vengeance, and redemption. The Oresteia would be a great story even if told in a modern setting. I can only settle on 3 stars for this translation as I found Lattimore's representation was clunky and stilted, much too literally translated to give justice to the poetry. I would go with a little looser translation, and Fagles is probably a good selection. So glad I read The Iliad before this. It really helped provide valuable background to this one.As for the plays, I found these characters far more three-dimensional than those of the Iliad. They are motivated by and react to things that I identify with. I notice that the Greeks have a pretty schizophrenic view of women (and gods). Women are by turns "weak" and "evil" and "lustful" while men are either heroic or cowards. Women are often blamed for whatever is wrong. Clytemnestra kills her husband and that is the impetus for Orestes' actions, but her husband's sacrifice of their child is apparently not a valid reason for doing so... Still, it's an interesting idea of the move from vengeance-seeking as justice to a system of courts, ie a less violent society.Just writing off the top of my head, but anyway, these were my initial impressions.
What do You think about Aeschyli Choephoroe (1991)?
Review for Agamemnon. Maybe I'll read the rest later.
—Chaz
