>Previous Thread >Upcoming dates 23/05/16 - "Three Theban Plays" by Sophocles 01/06/16 - Voting day 02/06/16 - Results and rollover period 06/06/16 - "Three Theban Plays" finished
>How do I bookclub? Find the book at the top of this post, read it, and discuss. Bookclubs are a place for expanding and sharing your knowledge. Use this opportunity to ask questions, and discuss the things you liked and did not like about the story.
The Three Theban Plays in this collection are: Antigone Oedipus Tyrannus Oedipus Coloneus
Jaxson Murphy
>results and rollover period Why? Just let the voting last until we finish the current book, giving everyone time enough to vote, and then we'll just continue with the book that's been selected. I agree on the rest thou
Evan Rivera
I give it 24 hours before this whimsical idea dies a cursed death.
Daniel Price
It's so that people have time to find the book and start reading ahead before discussion of the previous book is finished.
The dates are also clearly stated so there's no excuse for not popping by on the 1st for 10 seconds and voting.
Bentley Edwards
Alright, but I still think we should give it more than one day of voting period. How about 3 days for voting and then 3 days rollover period? That's enough to find the book and start reading.
Ayden Martin
sauce?
Bentley Carter
gimme those dolls
Daniel Cox
I have two versions of the thebian plays. The Fagels translation, which I find a lot easier to read and understand. And another that was edited by David Greene and Richard Lattimore and features translations by Elizabeth Wyckoff, David Greene, and Robert Fitzgerald.
Is there a particular edition we'll be reading?
Nathan Diaz
No there's no particular version. All the plays should have the same line numbering so if you need to reference something, reference by the line number.
Austin Nelson
Oedipus at Colonus > Antigone > Oedipus Rex
Dylan Phillips
>"Greece and Poverty", said the historian Herodotus, "have always been bedfellows,"
You are probably going to need a dictionary for some of the words being used there.
Line 3 of Antigone from that version >The weird of Oedipus
I had to search the meaning of "weird" in that context as a noun; it means "destiny".
There's also the matter of the way the texts are arranged. Chronologically, Oedipus Rex follows, Colonus, which is followed by Antigone, but in order in which they were written, Antigone was written before Rex, and Colonus. If you don't have a version that provides a preface or footnotes of that sort, it's probably better to read chronologically, because all three plays make references to each other, and reuse characters.
Liam Flores
Veeky Forumss a slow board. let's go with 48.
Brayden Jenkins
>What? You'd kill your own son's bride?
>Absolutely: there are other fields to plow.
S A V A G E A V A G E
Luke Johnson
just a suggestion, but I've read the plays before and for most of the Greek tragedies you want something with Lattimore's name on it.
Ian Roberts
Did the Greek chorus stand still while they sang or did they dance and sing?
Oliver Wood
I'll be reading these, hopefully the idea catch on to something of an a intelligent discussion.
Evan Morales
can we not start with the greeks
Hunter Phillips
I wanted Tagore, a Bengali poet and writer.
Evan Fisher
Pretty sure it was just a coincidence.
Jack Powell
who hasn't read this though? not trying to be a hardass just thought bookclub would be focused on lesser known stuff
Camden Hall
the majority gets what the majority votes for.
Brody Reed
Ah, sorry. Didn't keep up with the last thread. Keep up the good work milord
Evan Cox
Did Sophocles purposely end each of his plays with destiny prevailing over free will because he would have been lynched by the audience otherwise?
Jackson Wright
Just a reminder that I've been keeping track of book recommendations. Future OPs will include this but for the time being, to make a book request for future polls, format your requests like such:
[REC] Book by Author
Samuel Hernandez
Anyone who's reading the Penguin edition, finding the preface to the plays more interesting the plays themselves?
Colton Rogers
Pessimistic about this, but will probably join in when the discussion kicks off.
Asher Lopez
Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.
Aaron Evans
This will last for a generation. Get in now boys.
Levi Gomez
ONN BOARRRDD
Jacob King
Great book choice! The plays are relatively short and as a pleb, I understood what was happening.
great experience/10
Jackson Lewis
Fair. If we look at the three Theban plays as a trilogy, how do you think it compares that of Aeschylus - Oresteia ?
I believe Sophocles is the better tragedian. Sophocles is groundbreaking in the sense that before him a trilogy consisted of three parts of the same act, with Sophocles, each part of the trilogy is a finished work that can be read and understood by itself with the three parts complementing each other. Sophocles is also much more defining to the shaping of modern literature, the conflicts in the plays of Aeschylus arise when a man has to confront his own fate, therefore, it is in a sense the struggle of man against the inevitable, Sophocles while still keeping fate in the Theban plays shows the man himself and not fate as the main device for moving the plot, with his actions the man affects his fate and while in the end fate still does its own thing the way in which this end is reached is not as straightforward as in the plays of Aeschylus, thus making them much more complex and nuanced. Another thing which Sophocles does better is portraying the destruction of man as a result of his own sins rather than being caused by the sins of a predecessor carried by his entire future family.
Lucas Wright
I don't think Sophocles saw his plays as a trilogy. If they are, that's not really his idea because he took well told stories and legends and put them in the theatre. Oedipus Rex existed as a story before Sophocles turned it into a production. The other thing is that he wrote Antigone before Rex and Colonus. Also Sophocles, wrote hundreds of plays, and not many survived, we can't be certain that this was meant to be a trilogy, there could have been other plays related to Thebes, and Creon etc.
I do agree Sophocles wrote with more sophistication and innovation than Asychylus. I remember reading it was Thespa who invented the actor, Asychylus who invented dialogue by having two actors on the stage, and then it was Sophocles who put three actors on the stage.
I definitely think the majority of the plays favor the idea of not being able to escape your fate over freewill. Oedipus Rex, Antigone, both of these plays have a prophecy, which despite extraneous effort to try and circumvent said prophecy, they end up fulfilling it regardless. But I think if there is an argument for freewill, it is made with Oedipus, who defiantly takes out his eyes instead of his life. Defys the prophecy, and also pays the price that is due for incest.
As for
Alexander Cook
All that ain't very bookclub
Luke Kelly
im in bitches. Also for future reference our universities in australia love helping jews so if you dont wanna buy and have an ereader or dont mind reading of computer/tablet you can acquire this and many other classics in from here. ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/l/literature/gbww/ your welcome
Dylan Parker
Why not all of Sophocles' plays?
They're not that long.
Parker Brooks
Because it's ultimately a discussion club, if you have too many texts set, people will either just not bother, or most will get ignored in favor of discussing just a couple of them anyway. No-one's stopping you reading them though.
Benjamin Torres
>Sophocles who put three actors on the stage.
True. He also shortened the chorus part by a lot, putting the emphasis on the dialogue. He also removes the static actors who are there just to move the play forward, he makes it so the appearance of every character has some significance. Even the chorus develops as a character, you can see that in Antigone, where at first they support Creon without asking a question and later after the meetings with Haemon and Tiresias the chorus becomes much more doubtful in the actions of the ruler. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this development of the chorus is I think the first of its kind in tragedy.
Lincoln Mitchell
I think it's cool how these guys a few thousand years ago were tinkering and inventing the most basic things about the theatre that we take for granted.
Antigone definitely does a lot of creative things with the chorus. One of which is having the actor and the chorus talk to each other, because I remember in Antigone, Creon chides the chorus at one point.
Charles Flores
So here are the book recommendations that we have right now taken from the previous topic. Books can't be recommended two weeks in a row, so all recs from last week need to wait another week before being allowed back into the poll.
Fathers and Sons - Ivan Turgenev Cyberiad - Stanisaw Lem Amores - Ovid
I will go ahead and [REC] The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
Isaac Cox
[REC] Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Perfect for reading after the Theban Plays.
Carter Jackson
I think that it's dangerous to link the books we read together like that though honestly, it becomes kind of intimidating for people interested in joining it if there's a backlog to read to be able to discuss the books on the same level as people that have been there from the start.
Plus, keeping it varied allows us to get a better appreciation of literature and different themes, I'd much prefer to read a completely different thing each week than stuff with similarities.
Matthew Flores
I think Antigone is the most important when it comes to the grander scheme, when we look at how each of these three separate plays affected tragedy as we know it. However, I enjoyed Oedipus Rex the most. When it comes to Oedipus at Colonus, I just don't see the appeal, if someone can shed some light on what they liked about that play I'd appreciate it.
Ryder Edwards
Fair point.
Colonus is my favourite. Rex is very plot-based, and Antigone is very emotional, but Colonus has a sublimely mystic, religious atmosphere that remains unmatched to this day (in my opinion).