Euripides Hecuba

Topical, accessible, and vigorous, Euripides' Hecuba is a play of strong women, broken vows, political and familial disaster, human suffering and revenge. This translation of Hecuba starts with the play's conflicts and chooses from a whole range of registers to render the characters. This mixture of dictions faithfully captures the Euripidean practice of mixing genres, his shifting of identities, his shrewd portrayal of political negotiation, his both fierce and playful irony. The rhythms of contemporary speech guide the formation of the characters. Finally, the line-breaks give shape to the play, be it on the page, staged, or read aloud. Yet they also respect the pauses, emphases, and repetitions in the Ancient Greek meter, syntax, and word order.