欧宝娱乐

The thing which most impressed me about this book was that the plays are dialectically translated: that is, Roche not only follows the originals as literally as possible, he uses modern slang to capture the cultural connotations, double entendres, and dirty jokes of the Ancients in all their accurate glory. Bet you hadn鈥檛 realized that we鈥檝e been making strap-on jibes for a long, long time, huh?

Of course, Lysistrata was my favorite play, and not just because it gives power to women in a way you don鈥檛 often see in literature. It鈥檚 sincere, hilarious, and bizarre. It captures the essence of human nature and the often precarious dealings between the sexes.

Second-favorite would be the last of the plays in the book, Plutus. The dichotomy of wealth and poverty is as ancient as humans itself, and I think it鈥檚 that very fact which makes this play, like Lysistrata, particularly accessible to modern readers.

The Frogs is too topical, I think. Just like watching an episode of the Daily Show probably wouldn鈥檛 be funny to someone 2,500 years from now, a play which deals this heavily with the politics and culture of Ancient Greece is unlikely to resonate strongly with a reader of our time. However, I concede that once I鈥檝e read more Euripides and Aeschylus, this one will likely be more amusing to me.

If Frogs is hard to read, Parliament of Women (Ecclesiazusae) may be even worse. While it, too, can be applied to 20th-century social structures (Feminism and Communism, respectively), the jokes just aren鈥檛 that great. It tries too hard to be crass and shocking, and ends up just seeming silly. Overall, I鈥檇 say that the idea is sound, but the execution is lacking. This play could be really cool, were it remixed for a modern audience.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book. It鈥檚 a quick read, and offers a very fresh take on the Classics. Aristophanes could easily be called the Matt Groening or Seth MacFarlane of his generation, and while the politics may have changed, much of the humor has not.