by Jean Racine
I am surprised at how easy this was to read. After reading little bits on my commute, I sat down and finished it in a day. Shame colors Phaedra’s life and blinds her completely to any solution other than death. She is not a reasonable person at any point until the very end when she has seen the cons...
Greek families! Histrionics, rash reaction instead of considered response, inability to control emotion. Tragedy.I don't know much about this play: what was Racine's source? It feels very Classical Greek and very Ted Hughes and not really French at all in this version. The language is not as extreme...
Racine amps up the pathos from Euripides’ version of the play. Phedra transforms from Grecian homewrecker to a French victim of amour. Her forbidden love is the product of a cruel Venus. The responsibility for Hippolytus’ death shifts to her over protective nurse, Oenone. Phedra suffers as a pow...
Since Rawlings' translation was just okay for me, I'd like to get back and check this out at some point. Besides, the cover is way cooler.
I loved this. Racine makes one big change from Euripides: he blames Phedre's false accusation mostly (though not wholly) on her nurse, instead of on her. Coincidentally, that's the one thing that really stuck out for me in the original: I found Phedre's final accusation jarring, unearned and unexp...
The fiction I've been reading these days has been pretty disappointing. A perfect time to catch up with the ancient Greek (by way of France) myth of Phèdre, who's unfortunate enough to fall madly in love with her own stepson - a misogynist prat if there ever was one. Bonus points for the cover which...
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