Overview

Euripides’ Bacchae is the magnum opus of the ancient world’s most popular dramatist and the most modern, perhaps postmodern, of Greek tragedies. Twentieth-century poets and playwrights have often turned their hand to Bacchae, leaving the play with an especially rich and varied translation history. It has also been subjected to several fashions of criticism and interpretation over the years, all reflected in, influencing, and influenced by translation. The Gentle, Jealous God introduces the play and surveys its wider reception; examines a selection of English translations from the early 20th century to the early 21st, setting them in their social, intellectual, and cultural context; and argues, finally, that Dionysus and Bacchae remain potent cultural symbols even now. Simon Perris presents a fascinating cultural history of one of world theatre’s landmark classics. He explores the reception of Dionysus, Bacchae, and the classical ideal in a violent and turmoil-ridden era. And he demonstrates by example that translation matters, or should matter, to readers, writers, actors, directors, students, and scholars of ancient drama.

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9781350066854

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Reviews

Perris's book provides interesting insights into Bacchae and the controversies of the translation debate. * Morning Star Online * As the first book devoted to the translation history of Euripides' Bacchae into English from the early twentieth century onwards, The Gentle, Jealous God breaks important new ground. With sensitive close readings and scrupulous attention to detail, this rich study demonstrates unequivocally that translation history must play a central role in performance histories of the ancient plays. * Fiona Macintosh, Director of The Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD) and Professor of Classical Reception, University of Oxford, UK * Perris' deft choice of Bacchae translations, theoretical sophistication, understanding of literary movements, and analysis of poetic and theatrical techniques are brilliant, and his writing is so clear that both scholars and students will benefit. The chapter on Greig's version with its radical authenticity is especially stunning. A monumental achievement! * Mary-Kay Gamel, Professor Emerita of Classics, Comparative Literature and Theater Arts, University of California Santa Cruz, USA *

Perris's book provides interesting insights into Bacchae and the controversies of the translation debate. * Morning Star Online * As the first book devoted to the translation history of Euripides' Bacchae into English from the early twentieth century onwards, The Gentle, Jealous God breaks important new ground. With sensitive close readings and scrupulous attention to detail, this rich study demonstrates unequivocally that translation history must play a central role in performance histories of the ancient plays. * Fiona Macintosh, Director of The Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD) and Professor of Classical Reception, University of Oxford, UK * Perris' deft choice of Bacchae translations, theoretical sophistication, understanding of literary movements, and analysis of poetic and theatrical techniques are brilliant, and his writing is so clear that both scholars and students will benefit. The chapter on Greig's version with its radical authenticity is especially stunning. A monumental achievement! * Mary-Kay Gamel, Professor Emerita of Classics, Comparative Literature and Theater Arts, University of California Santa Cruz, USA * The Gentle, Jealous God is a helpful addition to the growing body of scholarship on the reception of classical literature and should be regarded as the standard work on the reception of the Bacchae in English in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. I expect that Perris's book will also be of interest more generally to those who engage in translating and/or adapting ancient texts for English-speaking audiences. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *

Perris' deft choice of Bacchae translations, theoretical sophistication, understanding of literary movements, and analysis of poetic and theatrical techniques are brilliant, and his writing is so clear that both scholars and students will benefit. The chapter on Greig's version with its radical authenticity is especially stunning. A monumental achievement! * Mary-Kay Gamel, Professor Emerita of Classics, Comparative Literature and Theater Arts, University of California Santa Cruz, USA * This book compellingly proves Perris's emphatic conclusion that Translation matters ... This book is of value to students and teachers alike, particularly its summary of approaches to translation and reception studies in the Introduction and its close readings of poetic translations. * Classical Journal * [Perris'] book is admirable in the coherence it achieves while sustaining a diversity of approach. * The Classical Review * Perris's book provides interesting insights into Bacchae and the controversies of the translation debate. * Morning Star Online * The Gentle, Jealous God is a helpful addition to the growing body of scholarship on the reception of classical literature and should be regarded as the standard work on the reception of the Bacchae in English in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. I expect that Perris's book will also be of interest more generally to those who engage in translating and/or adapting ancient texts for English-speaking audiences. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review * As the first book devoted to the translation history of Euripides' Bacchae into English from the early twentieth century onwards, The Gentle, Jealous God breaks important new ground. With sensitive close readings and scrupulous attention to detail, this rich study demonstrates unequivocally that translation history must play a central role in performance histories of the ancient plays. * Fiona Macintosh, Director of The Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD) and Professor of Classical Reception, University of Oxford, UK *

Author Information

Simon Perris is Senior Lecturer in Classics at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He has published numerous articles on Greek tragedy and classical reception.

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