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William Arrowsmith

WILLIAM ARROWSMITH  (1924 - 1992)

 Nationality:    USA
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a


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below is a list of William Arrowsmith's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

 Alcestis         Birds, The         Clouds, The         Orestes         Wasps, The

Alcestis

William Arrowsmith
at once a vigorous translation of one of Euripides' most subtle and witty plays, and a wholly fresh interpretation, this version reveals for the first time the extraordinary formal beauty and thematic concentration of the alcestis. William arrowsmith, eminent classical scholar, translator, and General Editor of this highly praised series, rejects the standard view of the alcestis as a psychological study of the egotist admetos and his naive but devoted wife. His translation, instead, presents the play as a Drama of human existence--in keeping with the tradition of Greek tragedy--with recognizably human characters who also represent masked embodiments of human conditions. The alcestis thus becomes a metaphysical tragicomedy in which admetos, who has heretofore led a life without limitations, learns to "think mortal thoughts." He acquires the knowledge of limits--the acceptance of death as well as the duty to live--which, according to Euripides, makes people meaningfully human and capable of both courage and compassion. This new interpretation compellingly argues that, for Euripides, suffering humanizes, that exemption makes a man selfish and childish, and that only the courage to accept both life and death leads to the realization of one's humanity, and, in the case of alcestis, to heroism.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Euripides

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oxford University Press   978-0195061666

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Birds, The

William Arrowsmith
all wish fulfilment seems darkened by death, but somehow the dream quality survives us

Notes:
Original Playwright - Aristophanes

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Three Comedies" published by Ann Arbour Press 1969   978-0472061532

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Clouds, The

William Arrowsmith
attacks the sophist movement and Socrates as a symptom of the movement, the improbable victim is exploited by comic representation of sophistic corruption

Notes:
Original Playwright - Aristophanes

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Three Comedies" published by Ann Arbour Press 1969   978-0472061532

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Orestes

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Euripides

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Euripides Plays volume Four" published by University Chicago Press 1958   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  3            Other:  chorus

Further Reference:
-

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Wasps, The

William Arrowsmith
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Aristophanes

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Three Comedies" published by Ann Arbour Press 1969   978-0472061532

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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