Dyskolos : the Curmudgeon / Menander ; translated by Rodney Merrill.

By:

Menander of Athens [author]

Contributor(s):

Merrill, Rodney, 1940- [translator]

Material type: Text

TextLanguage: English Original language: Greek, Ancient (to 1453) Publication details: [s.l.] : [s.n.], 2021.Description: 61 pages ; 23 cmContent type:

text

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

ISBN:

9781365747182

Subject(s):

Greek drama (Comedy) -- Translations into English

DDC classification:

882.01

Summary: "Dyskolos, The Curmudgeon, is the only nearly complete extant play of the Athenian New Comedy. It brought Menander, c. 342/1-c.290BCE, one of his eight first prizes at the Lenaia festival in Athens, held in late January - deservedly, for it celebrates in brilliant comic mode the very season, late winter, in which it was produced, when the ground is broken up for sowing new crops. But its action is so vividly and humorously staged that it presents a timelessly relevant and entertaining exploration of relationships in family and society. The old Curmudgeon of the title - an alternative given by an ancient source is The Misanthrope - finds that his desire for a self-sufficient existence cannot be sustained in the face of family and social necessities, while the younter people find that erotic desire and civil life cross class and family lines in ways familiar to us. The translation seeks to convey the play's marriage of colloquial language with formal and musical meter. Its patterns of rhythm represent those of the Greek: the iambic hexameter, one foot longer that English blank verse, of most of the dialogue, and the longer and more elaborate lines of the climactic late passages at least the last one of which was set to music. As with all plays, a fully vocal rendering brings out the music and enlivens the characters as they respond to each other. But the play can also be read with such a performance merely imagined. In either case readers should come away with an appreciation of the brilliance of this ancient but lively drama." -- Back cover

List(s) this item appears in: Anne Stewart's Collection

Holdings ( 1 )
Title notes ( 1 )

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Book - 7-day loan	CYA Library Main Collection	882.01 MEN (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		00000011484

Total holds: 0

"Dyskolos, The Curmudgeon, is the only nearly complete extant play of the Athenian New Comedy. It brought Menander, c. 342/1-c.290BCE, one of his eight first prizes at the Lenaia festival in Athens, held in late January - deservedly, for it celebrates in brilliant comic mode the very season, late winter, in which it was produced, when the ground is broken up for sowing new crops. But its action is so vividly and humorously staged that it presents a timelessly relevant and entertaining exploration of relationships in family and society. The old Curmudgeon of the title - an alternative given by an ancient source is The Misanthrope - finds that his desire for a self-sufficient existence cannot be sustained in the face of family and social necessities, while the younter people find that erotic desire and civil life cross class and family lines in ways familiar to us.
The translation seeks to convey the play's marriage of colloquial language with formal and musical meter. Its patterns of rhythm represent those of the Greek: the iambic hexameter, one foot longer that English blank verse, of most of the dialogue, and the longer and more elaborate lines of the climactic late passages at least the last one of which was set to music. As with all plays, a fully vocal rendering brings out the music and enlivens the characters as they respond to each other. But the play can also be read with such a performance merely imagined. In either case readers should come away with an appreciation of the brilliance of this ancient but lively drama." -- Back cover