An Oresteia: Agamemnon by Aiskhylos; Elektra by Sophokles; Orestes by Euripides PDF
Preview An Oresteia: Agamemnon by Aiskhylos; Elektra by Sophokles; Orestes by Euripides
ALSO BY ANNE CARSON Eros the Bittersweet Glass, Irony and God Short Talks Plainwater: Essays and Poetry AnORESTEIA Autobiography ifRed: A Novel in verse Economy oj the Un lost: Reading Simonides ojKeos with Paul Celan Men in the OffHours The Beauty ojthe Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29Tangos ifNot, Winter: Fragments ifSappho Deereation: Poetry, Essays, Opera GriefLessons: Four Plays by Euripides ___..._ .._... .J AGAMEMNON BY AISKHYLOS ELEKTRA BY SOPHOKLES ORESTES BY EURIPIDES AnORESTEIA Translated by ANNE CARSON FABER AND FABER, INC. An affiliate ifFarrar, Straus aIld Giroux NEW YORK Faber and Faber, Inc. An affiliate ofFarrar, Straus and Giroux 18West 18th Street, NewYork 100Il .,;;. Copyright © 2009 by Anne Carson All rights reserved Distributed in Canada by D&M Publishers, Inc. for Alice Cowan, Printed in the United States ofAmerica Published in 2009 by Faber and Faber, Inc. myfirst Greek teacher First paperback edition, 2010 Anne Carson's translation ofElektra was originally published by Oxford University Press under the title Electra, copyright © 2001 by Anne Carson. An excerpt from Aiskhylos' Agamemnon originally appeared in Tin House. ..If ' The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: An Oresteia / translated by Anne Carson.-1St ed. p. cm. ISBN: 978-0-86547-902-9 (alk. paper) I. Greek drama (Tragedy)-Translations into English. 2. Agamemnon (Greek mythology)-Drama. 3. Electra (Greek mythology)-Drama. 4· Orestes (Greek mythology)-Drama. 1. Carson, Anne, 1950- II. Aeschylus. Agamemnon. English. III. Sophocles. Electra. English. IV Euripides. Orestes. English. PA3626 .C37 2009 882'.0108-dc22 2009001420 Paperback ISBN: 978-0-86547-916-6 Designed by Ralph Fowler / rlfdesign wV>lw.fsgbooks.com I, 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 CAUTION: All rights whatsoever in this work are strictly reserved. Application for permission for any use whatsoever, including performance rights, must be made Ii in writing, in advance, prior to such proposed use, to SUBIAS, One Union Square West, No. 913, New York, NY 10003, Attn: Mark Subias, or via e-mail to [email protected]. No performance may be given unless a license has fIrSt been obtained. CONTENTS A Note from the Translator IX Numbering xiii Introduction to Agamemnon 3 AGAMEMNON by Aiskhylos 9 Introduction to Elektra 77 E L E K T RA by Sophokles 85 Introduction to Orestes 175 II ORE ST E S by Euripides 181 A NOTE FROM THE TRANSLATOR T1lUnder only happens when it's raining. -STEVIE NICKS Not my idea to do this. It was the inspiration of the artistic direc tor of the Classic Stage Company in New York City, Brian iI Kulick. Let me say how it came about. I translated Sophokles' Elektra in 1987 and Euripides' Orestes in 2006 for different reasons: Elektra was commissioned by Oxford University Press for a series called The Greek Tragedies in New Translations; Orestes was presented as a staged reading at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. To translate Aiskhylos' Agamemnon had never crossed my mind. But in 2007 Brian Kulick ap proached me with the notion of trying my hand at Agamemnon and putting together an Oresteia that combined the three play wrights, which he would then undertake to produce. I said, "Who needs this?"-meaning, Aiskhylos has already given us an x A NOTE FROM THE TRANSLATOR A NOTE FROM THE TRANSLATOR XI Oresteia richer than rubies, of which lots of good translations ex an azure sunset, the next a starless night. Between them, Sophokles, ist.Why monkey around with it? But Kulick persisted in thinking under the glare ifa noon sun that leaves nothing unexposed. 2 it a good idea to make a non-foundational Oresteia. He spoke and You can see Brian was persuasive. Anyway, the idea of another wrote to me about this on several occasions. As I understand it, Oresteia grew on me, partly because I like big translation projects; the project interested him ftrst ofall historically. To hear the same partly because it seems important to get Greek plays performed legend (the story of the house ofAtreus) told by three different more; partly because, as John Cage says, "There are things to hear playwrights at three different vantage points ofAthenian history and things to see and that's what theater is:'.J would offer "a unique perspective on the Athenian moment," he said. Kulick saw a trajectory "from myth to mockery" in the three treatments. In Aiskhylos' hands the story ifthe house l!fAtreus is designed to end in a valedictory celebration ofAthenian democracy and its newborn sense ifjustice; whm Sophokles takes over the tale it becomes more complex and contradictory; with Euripides the design is completely turned on its head. T#follow a trajectory from myth to mockery. VVhat happened to q{eet this? History happened. Aiskhylos composed his Oresteia shortly afterAthens'victory at the battle ofMarathon, which marked the height ofAthenian military and cultural supremacy; Euripides finished his Orestes almost a hundred years later as Athens headedfor ruin, due to herprotracted involvement in the Peloponnesian War . .. The house ~fAtreusJor these tragedians, was a way iftalking about the fate ~fAthens. 1 III He was also intrigued by a stylistic differential in the three plays. I always thiflk ifthese three tragedians as being associated with different times ifa metaphoric day.Aiskhylos is dawnlike, with iconic ideas, images, and action emerging into the light ofconsciousness. Euripides presents a twilight where everything is susceptible to tricks of afading light, where tonalities are hard to grasp, where one moment is 2. Ibid. 3. Richard Kostelanetz, ed., John Cage: An Anthology (New York: Da Capo Press, I. Brian Kulick, correspondence, somewhat adapted. 1991),22. I I \; I NUMBERING I I For the convenience of the reader who may wish to check the English against the Greek text, or vice versa, the lines have been numbered according to both the Greek text and the translation. The lines of the English translation have been numbered in mul I tiples of ten, and these numbers have been set in the right-hand I margin. The (inclusive) Greek numeration will be found brack ! eted at the top of the page. ! I, Ii I - - - ~ - - - - , - - -- ------=-----=-- INTRODUCTION It's like watching a forest fire. Big, violent, changing every minute and the sound not like anything else. Every character in Agamemnon sets fire to language in a differ ent way. Klytaimestra is a master of technologies, starting with the thousand-mile relay of beacons that brings news of the fall of : II Troy all the way from Asia to her in the first scene. She reenacts the relay in language that is so brilliant and so aggressive, she is \ \ like a conqueror naming parts of the world she now owns. She 1 goes on to own everyone in the play-the chorus by argument and threat, Agamemnon by flattery and puns, Aigisthos by sexy cozening-with one exception. Kassandra she cannot conquer. Kassandra's defense, which is perfect, is silence. When Klytaimes tra demands to know whether this fdreign girl speaks Greek, Kassandra does not answer-for 270 lines (in the original text). Klytaimestra exits. There is no reason why Kassandra should speak Greek. She is a Trojan princess who has never been away from home before. In I il fact, she will turn out to command all registers of this alien tongue--analytical, metaphoric, historical, prophetic, punning, riddling, plain as glass. But Apollo has cursed Kassandra. Her mind is foreign in a much deeper way. Although she sees every
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