Tuesday, January 8, 2019

The Burial At Thebes - Seamus Heaney

From the Goodreads...

The Burial at Thebes
(A version of Sophocle's Antigone)
Seamus Heaney

This version of Antigone also gets four stars because even though the language is modern, it isn't dumbed down or watery. The story is just as rich as reading it in a more King James-y tune. I'm assuming that there was some loss in translating it to English from the Ancient Greek; but, it is fine.

So I got this book thinking it was going to be a modern interpretation of the Antigone story. Turns out, it's just a modern language version of it. The translation is clear and being clearer allows the reader to see the tragic arc of Creon. Creon is stubborn and proud, but he doesn't come from a ridiculously misguided position. He is working for the genuine benefit for Thebes. He errs by not correcting the mistake once he has been counseled. Antigone seems much more the sympathetic character in the older version. This modern one makes Creon a bit more sympathetic.

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