Description

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First published in Peter Meineck and Paul Woodruff's Sophocles: Four Tragedies, this riveting translation by Peter Meineck of Sophocles' Philoctetes features a new Introduction by Paul Woodruff.

"Peter Meineck has given us a superbly vivid rendering of the play, informed throughout by his practical experience in the theater. His is a Philoctetes that is supremely alive, from start to finish. . . . I]deal for classroom use . . . accompanied by a new and thoughtful introduction from philosopher and classicist Paul Woodruff. Woodruff anchors the play in the complex web of fears and anxieties of 409 BCE, as both Sophocles' life and Athens' imperial heyday drew to a close. . . . A]n exceptionally fine work of translation and scholarship that will go far toward demolishing dismissals of the play as inaccessible or unengaging for the modern reader. Sophocles, Meineck and Woodruff eloquently remind us, speaks to every age, not least our own."
--Thomas R. Keith, Loyola University Chicago in CJ-Online

About the Author

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Peter Meineck is Associate Professor of Classics at New York University, where he holds the endowed chair in Classics in the Modern World. He is the founder of Aquila Theatre. Paul Woodruff is Professor of Philosophy and Classics, The University of Texas at Austin.

Praise For…

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Peter Meineck has given us a superbly vivid rendering of the play, informed throughout by his practical experience in the theater. His is a Philoctetes that is supremely alive, from start to finish.
". . . ideal for classroom use . . . accompanied by a new and thoughtful introduction from philosopher and classicist Paul Woodruff. Woodruff anchors the play in the complex web of fears and anxieties of 409 BCE, as both Sophocles' life and Athens' imperial heyday drew to a close.
". . . an exceptionally fine work of translation and scholarship that will go far toward demolishing dismissals of the play as inaccessible or unengaging for the modern reader. Sophocles, Meineck and Woodruff eloquently remind us, speaks to every age, not least our own."
—Thomas R. Keith, Loyola University Chicago in CJ-Online

"An excellent translation of this always intriguing play: clear, simple, up-to-date English. . . . Clearly designed for stage performance as well as reading. Woodruff gives a good account of why the Athenian audience would have been on the edge of their seats. This translation would be appropriate for anyone doing a Classics or drama course, with or without the language. No prior knowledge of the mythological background is assumed; everything one needs to know is explained in the introduction and notes."
—Colin McDonald, Journal of Classics Teaching